


Kill Your Heroes

by WordsareBetterthanNumbers



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Barry Allen, Bisexual Oliver Queen, Eventual Barry Allen/Oliver Queen, Eventual Relationships, F/F, F/M, Fake Character Death, Gay, I reaally hope that you like the way I characterize the peps, M/M, Not Really Character Death, Romance is not the main focus here, Romantic Sub Plot, Villains, Villains who are a pain in the ass, i hope this is good, long story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-06-09 21:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 72,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6924931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordsareBetterthanNumbers/pseuds/WordsareBetterthanNumbers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a new villain in town. Someone they might not be able to defeat but if they do, it will definitely leave deep scars of all sorts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. October 10, 2016 - Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News Article was written by Star City News after the fight with Shadow; the article brings everything but good news for the two cities.

****

> ## Star City News - Oct. 14 2016

#  Flash and Arrow disappear in crisis while fighting against their biggest threats yet.

**Both vigilantes were last seen fighting against Star and Central cities’ new threats. In a videotape caught by traffic cameras, the two vigilantes seemed to be pushed into the building by a dark force cast by the villain named Abdera Winters, better known as Shadow. After the scarlet speedster and the emerald Archer had been thrown inside the building, Shadow herself accessed the building and exited it an hour and fifteen minutes later seemingly unharmed. Both heroes didn’t show up after that and are still MIA.**

Earlier this morning a police officer realised that something was wrong when all of the cameras of a sector in the city were showing no images, even if they seemed to be completely functional. After a few inspections and looking over the tape caught the officer, who's identity is classified, came across a heart-stopping footage.

Both vigilantes seemed to have been fighting Shadow when she hit them both with a powerful attack that sent both heroes crashing into a building. Shadow proceeded to enter the abandoned storage room and stay inside for an hour and fifteen minutes before exiting the structure unharmed. She then looks directly at the camera and sends a wave of Shadows that cover up the lens of the camera.

The Authorities were called and after an inspection, they only found one clue of everyone’s favourite heroes, a green arrow that matched all of the weaponry collected from crimes involving Star’s vigilante. There was nothing else indicating what could have happened to our heroes but tonight’s events do leave us asking ourselves one question; Is this all something Green Arrow and Flash planned to trick Shadow or were we left alone when Shadow finally beat our only hope?


	2. HEAVEN - Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night before their next mission Barry and Oliver train until three in the morning for many reasons, to improve, to forget, to feel something different from failure. The night of their mission they are chasing someone down and as they do they find themselves a few metres away from the border of Star City when the person they are chasing after disintegrates into shadows. 
> 
> Oh Boy, things are going to start going downhill for the two ex-heroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys! 
> 
> I'm starting to write my first long story on this website and I have so many plans for this story is not even funny, I hope you love this story as much as I love the idea for this story. 
> 
> Please give me feedback and Kudos if you like this story, it will really help me if you do.

 

 

> October 23, 2016.

The first few lessons stressed Oliver out. He needed to let off some steam. He needed to have the challenge to take his mind off the fact that he had failed his city. He had been no match against Shadow and it was killing him. But Barry learned as fast as he could run, or well relatively as fast as he could run, and by the time two weeks had passed since they started working for A.R.G.U.S. Barry was now making it harder for Oliver to beat him. He still needed a lot of practice until he could beat Oliver, but at least now they had a fight that was challenging enough to make Oliver relax a little.

But as frustrating as it must have been for Oliver it must have been ten times as hard for Barry. He was, for the second time, fighting against someone he couldn’t beat. Oliver knew it was frustrating for Barry because the third night away from their hometowns and two days into training for A.R.G.U.S. Barry had broken down in the middle of their apartment.

“Do you remember when I told you that ever since I got my powers, I feel more powerless to do something about our cities?”

_How to forget when I go through that every day?_ “I do.”

“I have never felt this powerless, Ollie.”

“Neither have I, Bear.”

They were now alone in a training room bellow the A.R.G.U.S. facilities in the outskirts of Coast City, training reflexes with batons. With every hit, Oliver got reminded that he was not home. In his home, he would have bright white lights pointing towards him, but here lights weren’t even white. Back to his home, he would be having more trouble fighting against Barry because back it his home Barry was allowed to use his speed for training.

Back in his home, Felicity would be staring at them spar.

Back in his home, Cisco Ramon would be typing something away, trying to find something for Barry and Oliver to fight.

Doctor Wells would be chiding both Barry and Oliver for their flawed technique.

Jesse and Diggle would be cleaning the weapons.

Thea would be practising.

But of course, this wasn’t his home. This was somewhere else; here Barry couldn’t use his skill, and there was no team to correct them or encourage them to keep their training going. Here there was only the occasional visit of Lyla Michaels for moral support. Here they were reminded of everything they had to leave behind, and it had them both on the brink of insanity.

Oliver got distracted in his thoughts and Barry hit his torso, ending the spar. Oliver didn't feel particularly disappointed about putting an end to the competition; he needed time to think and do something he normally wouldn’t do back in his home, besides it was getting late. Maybe it was time for them to return to the place they had been living in for the past two weeks.

“It’s getting late, Bear.”

Barry grimaced, maybe his way of taking his mind off his past was exercising and Oliver felt incredibly guilty for trying to take that away from his partner. “You’re right. Maybe we should go.”

“We can always stay one more hour if you want to.”

Now it was Barry’s turn to look guilty. “No. Ollie you are tired. We can do this tomorrow. Let’s go back to our place.”

“Let’s make a deal. One more fight and we go back.”

Barry gave him a thankful smile that he couldn't return. He raised both batons and Barry waited for him to give the first hit, but just before he could do it the door for their training area opened with a loud slam as it hit the wall. They both looked over to the top of the set of stairs where the door was located and found themselves staring at Lyla Michaels.

She made a face when she realised how hard she had slammed the door open, “Sorry to interrupt your training session.” She apologised. “All though I do recommend for you two to go home right now. You _have_ been training for ten hours.”

Oliver sighed. Ten hours that must mean it was about three in the morning.

“Right,” He heard Barry sigh, “I think we should go.”

Lyla descended the stairs as Barry and Oliver started to wrap everything up. She helped them both put everything away and then waited for them to put on their shirts and shoes on. “What are you doing here so late?” He asked Lyla when they started to exit the cement wall room.

He started to climb the stairs followed by the other two. She heard Lyla’s heels over Barry’s and his steps. “Had a lot of paperwork to do before I head back to Star.”

Oliver nodded and asked the question he always asked her. “How are they doing?”

_How are the cities doing? How are the people doing? How are our teams doing?_

“Not much better than last week, or the week before that. People are scared; they have no hope in the situation getting any better. Both teams are trying to keep up with the crimes in the city but it’s not enough. Without you two it will never be enough.”

Of course, Oliver felt his throat constrict and his step falter, just like he did whenever she told him the bad news about his team. That being every time he saw Lyla, she always had something bad to say to him and Barry. Fortunately, he had a partner that could answer when he physically couldn’t do so. “We can’t come back Lyla; you know that. We can’t fight something that we can’t outrun. it's better for our cities to be alive than to be eaten by something that we can't fight.”

“And how do you think that people are feeling right now?” Lyla had stopped walking, “At least you had a chance to beat them. You were trained heroes who had fought the impossible before. How do you think that the ordinary people feel when they can’t even fight the thugs that have taken advantage of the situation?”

“Lyla-“

But before Oliver could say anything else she extended her palm, motioning him to stop and he obliged. “You should both go and sleep. You have a big day tomorrow and I have to finish all of the paperwork I haven’t finished.”

Any other day they would have offered to help her, but tonight as she ducked into the corridor that lead into the offices of the base they didn’t follow. They both knew it was a way to avoid an argument that was about to start. A few seconds after Lyla's steps receded he looked at Barry, who was biting his lip and had both of his eyes closed.

“There is nothing that we could have done. Not when she threatened us like she did.”

“But maybe Lyla is right. Maybe we could have done something.”

Oliver was now staring at Barry's green eyes. He knew Lyla was in fact right, but he needed to convince himself that the decision that they had made at the moment was the right one. “I would rather have my city and everyone I love alive than see then died drowned in shadows.”

“What they are living right now isn’t much of a life.”

_I know,_ he wanted to scream, _I know that, and there is nothing that hurts me more than that._ But if he said a thing to Barry, hell, if he even said it out loud he would feel the weight of his decision more than ever. “We should go to sleep.”

Barry sighed, “You are right. We should.”

They didn’t say a word to each other on the walk back to their place.

-*-

It was Oliver’s turn to cook their dinner, and as he did Barry stared absentmindedly at the news. Of course, what they were showing in the news weren’t reports from Star or Central City or else Oliver would have left the cooking for after the story ended and Barry’s focus would be on the TV, not 300 miles away.

As he waited for the soup that he was making to boil, Oliver got lost in thought, too. His mind wondered to his partner, how, ever since the arrangement with Abdera Barry’s smile had become less of something that happened very often to something like a treasure.

That hurt Oliver genuinely and served as a reminder that if Barry’s smile was nearly nonexistent, then his smiled had been lost that day. Well lost to most people anyway, because sometimes if Barry caught him off guard and in a good mood, he could make a grin appear on Oliver’s face. That had happened only once in two weeks, but one was better than nothing, right?  
He looked at the soup he was cooking and turned the flame off when he saw the bubbles surfacing. He took out two plates, served the food and made it too were Barry was sitting. He came back to the kitchen of their small apartment when he realised that he had forgotten the spoons.

He sat beside Barry and handed him the spoon. “Thanks, Ollie.”

A few seconds had passed before Barry asked something that lightened the mood. “Did you ever think we would end up eating soup together on a couch at three in the morning?”

Oliver felt his lips form a subtle smile that possibly looked like a grimace. “Nope,”

“If I ever told my eighteen-year-old self that he would be doing this with Oliver Queen in eight years he would have laughed at my face and told me I was crazy.”

“If I told my eighteen-year-old self that he would be doing something different than being in bed with someone at three in the morning he would’ve probably had a heart attack.”

Barry snorted and Oliver felt like he had just made something amazing happen. “Yeah, he probably would have.”

But the happy mood was interrupted when Oliver remembered that sixteen hours later they would have to do a mission for A.R.G.U.S. “Talking about things that would have killed our past selves, what do you know about our mission?”

Barry’s expression changed to something more serious. “Drug traffic we have to stop. There are three trucks filled with Slam that we are supposed to take down; they are going towards Star City. They will give us guns, two motorcycles and strict orders of not to kill unless necessary. Lyla made it clear that we only had to stop the trucks and ignore what happens with the people transporting them.”

“Since when do they care about drug traffic?”

“Since they discovered that this organisation transports drugs that contain cyanide and are heading towards one of the most visited clubs in Star City,”

“People aren’t partying, are they?”

“I think people are using drugs to cope with the stress that Shadow is making them go through.”

_The stresses both of us are making them suffer._ The line was unspoken but it was something they both knew.

“The guilt is killing me, Ollie.”

“I know, Bear.” He answered, “I know; it’s killing me, too.”

“We should do something about it. We can’t leave them to rot inside the cities.”

“We can’t do anything, at least not right now. Besides they are not rotting inside the cities, I'm sure that everyone will be gone by next week.”

Barry winced, feeling more hopeless than he let on. “We can’t leave them like that, we can't let our cities die.”

“We won’t, we just need to come up with a way to help them.”

Barry looked at Oliver with glassy eyes, “We have been telling ourselves the same thing for two weeks; we still don’t have anything. We don’t even have ideas.”

  
“I know. But we will come up with something, I promise.”

Their soup was cold by the time they turned back to eating it.

Have you ever heard that when you are sad or disappointed food tastes bitter? Well, Oliver had proved that that was wrong, when you're sad food doesn’t taste like anything.

-*-

The day Oliver doesn’t enjoy riding a motorcycle will be the day that they have completely broke him. But right now there is nothing that Oliver would be rather doing. He and Barry haven't intercepted their target yet, so Oliver is speeding down the highway with Barry trailing behind him. It is ironic how the Flash is scared to go faster than that on a motorcycle.

Twenty miles before getting to Star City Oliver starts to worry. They still haven’t seen their target and that makes him question if they are too late. But then he notices a black speck at the end of the road and he urges Barry to hurry up.

He caught up with the three black trucks three miles before getting to Star City; he forces himself not to look to where the city is because of fear of seeing something he doesn’t want to see. Barry is beside him a few seconds later; he tells Barry to take care of the last truck while he shoots the one in front.

Adrenaline courses through his system as he speeds up and takes out the gun. He waits for Barry to shoot the truck and send it off course before shooting the second one. They’re one mile away from the border when the vehicle’s doors open and people start shooting at them.

Oliver dodges a few bullets before being able to aim, but when he finally does, it’s too late. A bullet makes contact with his rear wheel and he skids to the floor. His head bumps with the pavement and his helmet shatters and then he scrapes his face with the pavement before hearing another gunshot.

He hears the screech of wheels against the pavement and he is suddenly very scared that Barry was shot down, but when he looks up the world seems to be going in slow motion. Barry had just stopped his motorcycle and the truck was skidding towards Star City. Oliver felt a wave of relief when he saw his partner unharmed.

Then the truck seemed to stop. It had no reason to turn over but it did and then it started to dissolve into something dark. The truck turned into shadows right before their eyes, and before they knew it, the vehicle and all of its occupants are completely gone.

Barry is beside him in a few moments, and he is helping him stand. The younger man's firm grip alerts Oliver that something is most definitely wrong and it's not only his brain playing tricks on him. "What the hell was that?" 

Barry looked at Oliver with Big eyes and a desperate look on his face; Barry was also unaware that such thing as this barrier could exist. Oliver limped over to the border of the city using Barry as a crutch to support the leg that had suffered the impact when he crashed. 

Oliver knew that touching whatever was surrounding Star City was dangerous, so he took off the part of his helmet that hadn't been completely ripped off and threw it towards the barrier. His fears were confirmed when the helmet disintegrated when it touched the thing. 

He turned to look at Barry with a worried expression and saw that the man had an expression that could only mean one thing. "Shadow." 

He knew that the woman had a very twisted mind, enough to make a whole city tremble with fear but this was inhumane. He had locked in the entire city inside a death trap and was possibly going to let it rot away. 

He hadn't realised that both of them were trembling until he tried to back away from the city limits and had nearly tripped. Barry was fortunately there to keep him steady, but it was not enough they both knew it. They both knew that comfort would never suffice to get over what they just saw. It wouldn't be enough to get over what they were making their cities suffer. 

"We let this happen, Oliver." He doesn't want to look at Barry, he doesn't want to see the look that he has on his face. "They are trapped inside the city. We trapped them inside the city."


	3. C'mon - Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a reason to why Cisco never told his friends that Both Oliver and Barry are alive. Cisco helped them escape; Cisco contacted Lyla so the A.R.G.U.S. would take both boys in, and now Cisco knows how horrible it is to hide a secret as big as that.

 

> October 23 2016

Ever since October 10, Cisco has had this horrifying feeling in his gut, like someone stuffed his insides with cotton, every time Barry Allen or Oliver Queen are brought up. Of course, he can’t give his friends away, so every time that they are brought up he makes the saddest expression he can muster. Well, it must look sad to his friends but in reality his expression id one of guilt and apprehension, something that if his friends ever question he can just quickly cover it up saying that he just feels like it was his fault that his friends are dead.

He wouldn’t be lying in that moment; it _is_ his fault that both teams think that the heroes are dead.

Cisco had been the only one that had been with Oliver and Barry in S.T.A.R. labs the afternoon that Shadow made the deal with them. Naturally, Cisco had to be involved in all of the craziness of the moment and Barry had to save his ass from Abdera.

_“-So technically if we don’t cast any shadows we could beat her, right?”_

_“Exactly,” to check something about his plan, Cisco turned towards the monitor. He had it. They could take her down with this scheme. “I would have to cut the energy for all the country and we would have to choose a moonless night to attack, but if we manage to get everything together, we could bring her down.”_

_When the world darkened around him, he knew things were about to go downhill. “Let me just stop you right there dear Cisco. What you are planning will only make me stronger, and what a shame would it be to have your project to be turned against you.”_

_“What are you doing here, Abdera?” Oliver hissed._

_Abdera Winters was a truly beautiful person. Her eyes and hair were both cinnamon coloured and her skin was only a few shades lighter than both. Her Latino complexion only added to her extreme beauty, and the fact that she insisted on using outfits that made her look stunning made Cisco realise that he had a habit of crushing on people that he would most definitely never have._

_“I’m here to make a deal.” She offered as she got closer, making the dark energy around them close._

_“What makes you think that we will listen to the deal you are going to make?” Cisco was sometimes amazed by how threatening Barry could sound. How much fear Barry could cause if he tried._

_“You will listen to my deal, Barry Allen,” Her tone was so casual that it made Cisco’s nerves spike up, having this woman as his enemy made him realise that villains were much scarier when they spoke about their grand schemes in a normal tone of voice than in the stereotypical cocky tone. It made inhumane plans seem reasonable and that scared Cisco to the core, “You will listen because if you don’t, I will make your cities drown in shadows and die very slowly.”_

_Cisco tried to seem braver than he felt, “Hey, lady, I want to inform you that many villains have told us the same thing and our teams have taken them down.”_

_“The thing is that I, unlike my predecessors, learned something from your victories and our defeats,” She said looking at Cisco with cold eyes._

_“And that is?”_

_“They,” she pointed at Barry and Oliver, who were watching the conversation unfold, “Are nothing without their teams, and your teams are nothing without their leaders."_

 

“Cisco,” Caitlin called his name for the fifth time snapping his of the memory he had just been reliving. “Cisco did you Vibe something?”

“Just something about Barry and Oliver,” 

_Barry's voice filled his head for one second. "You need to pretend, Cisco."_

_"Forever?" He had asked, "Look, man, I love you both but that will kill me."_

_Oliver looked at Cisco with dark eyes, "Both cities need you to be strong, Cisco."_

_"I'll try."_

Hope filled his teammates’ eyes as they waited for the latest development on their team _leaders_. God, he hated how much Abdera was right. He hated how Abdera had predicted the fact that without the heroes the teams were falling apart under stress and sadness. He also hated the fact that, even if Cisco had refused to believe something bad would happen to Barry and Oliver once they left, both heroes were falling apart under guilt.

He didn’t want to see another thing than hope in the people around him, but it was his end of the deal, he needed to make them believe that Oliver and Barry were dead. “I-I saw the attack.  Abdera, she-“

Oh god, could he do this to his teammates?

“She what, Cisco?” It was Thea asking the question. Thea Queen, Oliver Queen’s sweet little sister, the sister of the person he had to pretend was dead.

Maybe he could do it tomorrow. Maybe he could gather the courage tonight and pretend to Vibe tomorrow.

“Cisco,” Thea demanded again, “What did you see.”

“I can’t do this.” He stood up, nearly knocking Felicity over but he didn’t care at the moment. He needed to distance himself from everyone.

“Cisco what-“

“She killed them.” His break broke with each word. “She drowned them with shadows. She turned their bodies into shadows.”

The silence was eating him whole. He felt like it would swallow him up at any moment. Like if he didn’t do anything he would probably implode. So after looking into everyone’s eyes and watching the light leave their eyes Cisco’s guilt was too much to bear.

He walked out of S.T.A.R. labs immediately. He couldn’t risk letting his guilt speak for him. He couldn’t risk anything at the moment. So he circled the group of people who he had just lied to so easily and went home.

-*-

Later that night he heard a knock on his door. He didn’t want to open the wooden door; he didn’t want to face the person who was on the other side of the door. He didn’t want to face sad smiles and broken eyes. But he forced himself to open the door anyway.

Caitlin looked horrible. Her hair was tied in a messy ponytail and her eyes were puffy and red. She looked like someone close to her just died, and it was his entire fault.

  
He winced when she smiled at him. “You left S.T.A.R. labs very dramatically and I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  
No, I’m not Caitlin. I’m sorry for lying to you. “I’m not, I just saw my friends die.”

  
It was her turn to grimace, “I’m sorry for asking that very stupid question.”

  
“It’s okay,” he lied again, “I just need time to get the images out of my head.” _I just need to accept the fact that you will probably hate the three of us if this ends the way we want it to end._

  
“Do you need anything from me, Cisco?” _I need you to forgive me for what I’m about to do, and for what I did_. “You know I’m always here for you.”

  
“I-I need,” He closed his eyes, “I need to be alone for a while. I’m sorry.”

  
“Don’t worry, I understand.” She smiled at him when he opened his eyes again. “Call me if you need something.”

  
“Thank you.” He smiled at her, “I will.”

  
She stepped forward and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and they stood there for a few seconds before letting go. They didn’t say another word; she stepped back, he closed the door and then they were both alone separated by a plank of wood.

  
_Fuck,_  he wasn’t sure he could keep this game up any longer.

He took out his phone and dialled one of the only two people he could talk to about what he was going through. Barry answered after the second ring and Cisco was glad he didn’t need to say the first words of the conversation. “ _Cisco, Hey man, what’s up_?”

  
“I did it.” Barry’s silence was not comforting at all, “I told everyone you two are dead.”

  
“ _How-how did they react_?”

  
“I don’t know. I couldn’t stay long enough to find out.”

  
Barry sighed, “ _Are you okay, Cisco_?”

  
“Second time someone asks me that question. No, I’m not okay.”

  
“ _I would run over to make you feel better but we have a problem._ ”

  
Cisco deflated, he had wanted Barry to speed over and advise him on what to do with what he had just gotten himself into, but if Barry wasn’t going to be able to go over to Central City, then there must have been something very wrong. “What happened?”

  
“ _Shadow put some spell over the cities_.”

  
“She _what_?”

  
“ _She put a spell over Central and Star City. Nothing goes in and I guess that nothing goes out either_.”

  
“And what happens if you try to exit the city?”

  
“ _You would disintegrate into shadows_ ,” Barry was silent for a second. “ _The cities haven’t been warned about this_?”

  
If Cisco had been feeling any emotion, it was now replaced by horror. “No, and Team Arrow is heading back to Star City tonight.”

  
“ _Cisco, you have to stop them_.”

  
“On it,”

  
He didn’t have time to say goodbye, he just hung up and tried dialling Felicity Smoak. After ten rings her voicemail picked up. He tried Diggle and then tried Thea but none of them picked up. He cursed and barged out of his apartment without any shoes on, he didn’t wait for the old elevator and ran downstairs as fast as he could.

  
S.T.A.R. Labs was only a few minutes away. He didn’t have the patience for a cab or the traffic the awaited him; he couldn’t let his friends disintegrate into shadows. He ran to the lab as fast as his feet could carry him but when he got there, it was empty.

  
Shit, oh shit. He ran into the cortex and tracked Felicity’s phone faster than he had ever found something. They were moving fast, heading towards the end of Central City, if Cisco didn’t hurry up, they would be dead.

  
Cisco calculated that he would have to pay about seven speeding tickets and probably the van was going to be taken away from him but that seemed unimportant at the moment. He sped through the roads in Central City following the dot was moving rapidly towards the exit.

  
He spotted the Arrow Mobile a few minutes after that. They were so close to the edge that Cisco had to accelerate the van so that they wouldn’t cross the city limits. He didn’t understand why they hadn’t realised that the cars in front of them had disappeared until he passed a certain point on the road where everything went black.

  
The van wouldn’t stop speeding, no matter how hard Cisco tried to stop it. He needed to save his friends, and everyone seeking to get out of Central City for that matter. He looked around the van, then it hit him, he would have to crash with their van.

  
According to his cell phone, he was two minutes away from the limits, he would have to speed up.

  
Instead of trying to stop the van he stepped on the gas, making the van go faster and trusting on the alerts coming from the proximity system of the van. He sped into the road that was for people to drive into Central City, there was no one coming into the cursed city ever since Shadow had taken over it.

  
He was looking at his screen now; the radar was off by sixty-five metres, so when he sped past the little dot on his screen he counted to three before veering towards the lane in which everyone else was in.

  
The crash was immediate. He felt the Air Bag on his car expand and the backlash of hitting into something at a very high speed. Then he felt someone else hit into his van, and another, and another, until he counted at least ten hard crashes.

  
Somewhere outside he heard the people stop their cars before running into the accident, before moving into the dark matter that would drive their cars out of control. But everything seemed distant; there was a ringing in his ears and something that told him to get out of the car.

  
He mustered every ounce of strength he had and pushed the door of the car open. The place was a wreckage, car part everywhere, glass from the crash thrown all over the floor, the cries of people as they tried to get out of their cars, but that wasn’t important to him. He turned around to look at the car he had crashed.

  
He had scored.

  
Cisco sighed in relief as he saw the Arrow Mobile with a dent on its side. All of the windows were cracked and Diggle was knocked out, just like the rest of the people inside, but after a quick check of their pulse, all of Cisco’s efforts proved not to be in vain.

  
He leant against the van and attempted to calm his pulse down. His ears were still ringing and his cell phone was probably destroyed but he didn’t care. 

"They are alive." He whispered, "They are alive just like you are." 

It felt good to say the thruth, even if nobody could hear him. 


	4. Save The World - Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Oliver put some of the pieces of the puzzle together. Abdera's shows off her way of killing and Barry realises he has a very extent set of feelings for the other vigilante.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, people!  
> I have gotten some really nice comments from you and yo don't know how grateful I am for that. I promised that romance wouldn't be the main focus of the story and it is not going to be. There is about a paragraph of romance in this story, and it's not even hardcore romance, it is just some crush description that Barry is too oblivious to notice.  
> I hope that if you came here for romance, you came here for Olivarry because that's excatly what you are getting for romance. Otherwise, there isn't much romance, but there will sure as hell be action and betrayal and horrible things coming for my little children.

 

> October 25 2016

Of course, Barry and Oliver weren’t always training on or mission, and when they weren’t doing that there weren’t many things they could do, but after last night’s events they refused to stay still in their apartment.

Abdera had promised to keep their friends safe, but after tonight’s events in which five of their friends had nearly died they doubted that Abdera would keep her promise. Honestly, Barry hadn’t even felt betrayed; that’s what they got for trusting a supervillain.

Last night Abdera had declared war, and that was something neither of them was ignoring. They would find a way to beat the shadows and they would kick Abdera’s ass for trying to hurt their friends.

They were currently inside the offices in Coast City’s A.R.G.U.S. base studying all of the evidence that Lyla could give them. Lyla, who was now stuck in Star City without her husband and all because of their stupidity, all because they were scared to fight something they couldn’t understand.

Usually, Barry would have browsed over the files at super speed, he would have scanned each page once and would only take in important details, but they were in the middle of an A.R.G.U.S. base where they knew no one and everybody thought that the Flash was dead. Besides, Barry had no intention of revealing his identity to a bunch of A.R.G.U.S. agents.

So he went over every single police report involving Shadow. He looked at every detail and only used his super speed to re-read pages four or five times, trying to detect a pattern out of the ordinary.

Oliver, on the other hand, was going over all of the videos of attacks involving Abdera. He was observant and patient and could go over the videos more than once, frame by frame even. Just to get a look at something that could help them. He had a notepad beside him and wrote everything he needed on it.

Time flew by and they found themselves on A.R.G.U.S. at three in the morning again, this time, there was no Lyla to tell them to go home, just hunger and tiredness. Barry felt both of the warnings at three forty-five in the morning and since they had eaten everything they had brought in out of stress they were obligated to go home. Surely there was nothing open close by at three in the morning.

They hadn’t spoken a word to each other apart from small questions and three-word answers. The pattern didn’t change; they walked to their place with their eyes glued to a tablet or some papers. That’s how concentrated they were on their research.

Finally, as they started to go up in the elevator, Oliver broke the silence. “It’s your turn to cook.”

Barry groaned and slapped his head with the papers, the last thing he needed tonight was worrying about having to cook, but he guessed that if he did everything at super speed, he would only have to wait for the things to cook and then he would be able to return to studying Abdera’s case.

Oliver took the papers out of his hand once the elevator opened, “I’ll take these, you open the door and cook us a delightful dinner.”

Barry stepped out of the elevator followed by Oliver and walked towards their door. “You’re only doing this to make me suffer. You know I would rather be working than worrying about not burning our dinner.”

Oliver smiled without humour as he took out the keys from his pocket and opened the door, “So would I.”

Barry refused to do something very sophisticated, so instead of doing something Oliver would have done, as an excellent tasting soup or cooked meat with some home prepared sauce, Barry took out the macaroni and cheese and sped his way through cooking them.

He was seated on the sofa faster than Oliver could cross the living room. He looked at Oliver and Oliver rolled his eyes before mumbling something about Barry being to whinny. “You can literally cook dinner in three seconds but still complain about having to make it.”

“Oh, I just cooked something very easy to do.”

Oliver looked at the kitchen, spotting the empty macaroni and cheese box immediately, “Unbelievable.”

Barry snorted and motioned for Oliver to sit down. He did, puting all of their research on the table. “Did you find any connection between the attacks?”

Oliver reached for the notebook he had been writing on, “I was hoping that you would look over it in a second, maybe catch any patterns? I haven’t had the time to look over it and identify any patterns.”

Barry glared at Oliver and the snatched the book, “Leave everything to the person who can do it in three seconds.” Of course, Barry was kidding and Oliver knew that, Barry liked to take advantage of every moment he could use his speed in given the fact that he couldn’t actually use his speed anymore. He was kind of getting frustrated about working for A.R.G.U.S. because of that, he couldn't let any agent discover that he was the Flash and that was driving him insane. He craved using the speed force.

After three times of reading over Oliver’s notes he finally caught a pattern, “Have it,” He announced, “I finally have the pattern.”

“What is it?”

“All of the people were swallowed by their shadows.” Barry looked into Oliver’s eyes, feeling hope for the first time in two weeks, “Not a single individual was killed by something else’s shadow even if it was in the dead of the night were there was no light. She can’t use differents shadow against things.”

“So she tricked us?” Oliver asked with his brow furrowed, “When she told us that Cisco’s plan wouldn’t work, I mean.”

Barry shook his head; Abdera had been right in that prediction. “She only attacks at night because that’s when she is stronger. The night is a shadow of the world, the reason why we can't see the sun is because the earth is causing a shadow across our territory.”

“So if we had carried out Cisco’s plan…?”

“Abdera would have kicked our ass and would have destroyed the city. He could have even destroyed half of the earth if she wanted.”

Oliver stayed silent; there was a clear shadow over his face and Barry wanted to get rid of it (and of his hunger, too). So he used his speed to finish cooking the macaroni, serve them and bring both plates to the couch. “We will keep going tomorrow, Ollie.”

Oliver smiled gratefully at Barry and turned the TV on. The news channel was on; giving them news from all over the country, but Barry’s mind was somewhere else.

_They are nothing without their teams._

_Oliver snarled at Abdera’s remark but didn’t deny it. “You want to rip us apart from our teams?”_

_She didn’t hesitate, “Yes.”_

_“That’s not happening, Abdera.”_

_But Abdera smiled, something in her eyes told Barry that she had been expecting this. She let her Shadows fall and Barry admired how incredible it looked when all of the shadows in the room returned to their owner. Abdera’s power might be dangerous but it was also very fascinating. Barry’s admiration was cut short when he saw why Abdera had let her Shadow wall fall._

_Leaning against the wall, bruised and bloody, was one of Joe’s co-workers, Matthew. Barry had known Matthew his whole life. Sometimes he came to his house along with other co-workers of his adoptive father; Matthew had given Barry gifts every single birthday since he was eleven. The man had been so full of life, but now his fair skin was pale and covered in blood and bruises._

_“Stop this!” Barry screamed, the man looked up and met Barry’s eyes. He was ready to use his super speed and take Matthew out of the building when Abdera spoke again._

_“Try using your speed Flash and I will show you what I can do with your friends Cisco instead of your father’s co-worker.”_

_Before Barry could respond Abdera extended her hand towards Matthew and his shadow moved. It trailed through the wall and into the man’s nose, mouth and eyes. Barry stood frozen in horror as the man started to seize and then had the urge to throw up when Matthew’s body began to dissolve into shadows and fade away._

_When it stopped, there was nothing left of Matthew, no corpse, no shadow, not a trace that the man had ever been there. He looked at Abdera with rage boiling in his system. Anger mixed with fear and apprehension._

_“Are you ready to negotiate yet, or do I need to demonstrate how I can destroy a complete building filled with people to make you listen to me?”_

Oliver brought back from the memory with a gentle nudge. “Barry, look at the news.”

“-people in Star and Central City were alerted about crossing the city limits when last night someone crashed on the way out of Central City and showed the world how Central and Star City’s new threat has decided to attack the cities.” The news reporter announced. “We have been locked inside the cities, trapped like animals.” Barry placed his now empty bowl of macaroni and cheese on the table beside Oliver’s empty bowl. “Whatever the Flash and Green Arrow are planning, if they are planning something and are not dead, needs to be carried out before the cities die.”

Barry didn’t hear the rest of the report. He stared at the screen absentmindedly and when he woke up the next day with Oliver by his side asleep in a very uncomfortable position, he realised that Oliver had done the same thing.

Oliver was fast asleep and looked so peaceful Barry felt like he could stare at him until he woke up. But no, Barry knew that Oliver wouldn’t appreciate that, so he ran upstairs at normal speed and came down holding one of the blankets they used in their beds. He placed the blanket over Oliver and went back to working on what they had been working on that morning.

He sat down on the floor and looked at their files. So, they had one clue to what they could beat Abdera with; she could only kill things with their shadows, but apart from that they had nothing. They didn’t know if Abdera had any external weaknesses or family because she had been careful enough to erase her history out of the police records.

So he started to fiddle. He began to make operations and nonsensical solutions to their problem. By the time that Barry had filled up eight pages full of useless ideas, Oliver hadn’t even stirred in his sleep. He kept writing and kept coming up with useless ideas: trained men that acted just like both of them? He didn’t want to risk more lives than it was entirely necessary. Maybe he could create something that made them invisible? Yeah, right, like that was going to happen anytime soon, besides the mass wouldn’t be disappearing, they would still have a shadow.

He didn’t hear Oliver’s quiet voice the first time he called his name. So Oliver had to put a hand over Barry’s hand to stop him from writing. Barry’s heart stopped with the unexpected touch; he hadn’t been paying attention to what he was doing, or how he was mumbling under his breath, so yes Oliver had scared him. Barry’s mumbling had woken Oliver up, but the funny thing was that he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at the younger man who had just disturbed the only undisturbed sleep he had had in two weeks.

“Hey, you have been talking to yourself for an hour,” Oliver mumbled.

“Sorry, I waked you up.” Barry apologised.

“I’m glad you did,” Oliver lowered himself to the floor next to Barry, “You seem to be having trouble. What have you been working on?”

And that’s how they started to brainstorm for ideas. Both of them were working with the clothes they had been wearing the day before, they hadn’t taken their mind of the thing they had been working on for over twenty-one hours, they hadn’t thought about what they had done to their friends in twenty-one hours. Barry could say that he finally felt like he was doing something for his city. He felt at peace at the moment, discussing theories with Oliver Queen at three in the afternoon.

But for some reason, Barry’s sort-of-happiness didn’t entirely come from working on saving his city. One very significant amount of Barry’s happiness came from knowing that Oliver hadn’t got rid of the blanket Barry had given him. In fact, it wasn’t until they decided to call it a night that Oliver got rid of the blanket, which made Barry happy for some reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, this chapter was a complete Drabble between my two favourite bisexuals but I have to show every flash back in order for the next few chapters to make sense. Besides, I need to make the villains's back story clear, she is after all one of my favourites.


	5. Young Volcanoes - Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe is taking care of Team Arrow, who are all currently in the hospital when two kids arrive at the ICU claiming to be siblings who got affected by the particle accelerator explosion. Joe asks Iris to stay in the hospital taking care of team arrow while Joe drives the kids to S.T.A.R. labs, determined to discover what these kids’ abilities are and if they can help in fighting against Abdera.

> October 25, 2016 

 

It had been raining for three hours by the time that Joe and Iris got an update on the medical state of the Team Arrow. They would wake up anytime soon; none of them had suffered life-threatening injuries but had to be kept in the hospital’s ICU while they woke up. Joe tried not to think how much those lines mimicked the lines that had been told to Joe the night of the particle accelerator explosion.

They were both sitting in the waiting room of the hospital and had been talking for a long while avoiding the topic of Barry Allen. Joe didn’t need to be reminded of his step son’s death tonight. He didn’t need to be reminded that the night of October 14 he had lost a son and a colleague.

Iris seemed to catch what her dad’s thoughts were because she gave a long sigh and looked at Joe with teary eyes. “We can’t keep avoiding this event dad.”

No, they couldn’t keep avoiding it, it wasn't healthy for them. That, however, didn’t mean that Joe wouldn’t keep trying to avoid it. It was his son’s death after all. Not only that, it was the Flash’s death, it was the Green Arrow’s death, and given the fact that Cisco had Vibed their death Joe had no other option but to believe it was true. The thing that had saved his son only a few months ago was the thing that had declared his death two days ago. “I know that Iris, but I don’t think I have calmed down enough to talk about my son’s death freely.”

“So, what? Are you going to keep avoiding the topic forever?”

“Yes, in fact, I am going to keep avoiding the issue,” Joe snapped, “maybe not forever but for a good amount of time.”

Iris looked like he was going to say something. Her eyes were shining with something that Joe recognised as defiance, and the tears that had been streaming down her face looked like silver under the white lights. She was going to protest, she was going to tell Joe that it was not healthy to avoid Barry death because it was something that happened, but a voice interrupted her before she could even open her mouth, “Detective Joe West?”

He turned around and found himself staring at two people. One of them was a girl with short, brown hair, and piercing blue eyes that made her cinnamon coloured skin look even darker. The other person was a boy with glasses and brown hair that was sitting in a wheelchair.

“That’s me,” Joe answered.

The girl seemed to realise that she was interrupting something, but her face showed fear beyond anything that Joe had ever seen, he was sure that she didn’t care about interrupting, “I’m sorry very sorry if we interrupted something but my brother and I need your help very urgently.”

“What can I help you with?” Joe asked as he stood up and realised that the girl must be the same height as Barry was.

“We heard that you are the head of the metahuman task force, we figured you were the only person we could come too.”

Joe’s heartbeat increased, the last thing he needed was another evil metahuman in town, “Is there another metahuman that is attacking people? Did it attack you?”

“Not exactly, Detective,” The boy in the wheelchair said he sounded just as scared as his sister, “We just found out we are metahumans. We had no idea of what to do and we figured that it would better if we just turned ourselves into the police.”

“Wait, you just found out you are metahumans?” Iris asked, “How did you find out?”

It was the girl who answered, “We got attacked by some thieves in the street. They jumped out of nowhere and I hit one of the guys in the face and he seemed to forget everything and then Andrew tried to push the second one away and he-he…” she didn’t seem to able to continue with words so she did a motioned with her hands that possibly meant vanished.

“He disappeared?”  Iris asked.

“No,” answered the boy, Andrew, “he dissolved, he became liquid.”

Joe looked at Iris and she returned the same worried look. Understanding passed through Iris’s eyes as Joe told her to stay here and keep him updated with any changes in the team. Then he turned around and motioned the kids to follow him.

“Detective, may I ask where are you taking us?” the girl asked when she caught up with him.

“”Please, call me Joe, and don’t worry I am not taking you to jail; I’m taking you to a place where we can talk and study your powers more freely than a waiting room.”

"And that is?"

“S.T.A.R. labs.”

Joe could see the instant uneasiness in both kid’s face, he didn’t judge, S.T.A.R. labs was something that brought a bitter taste to most people in Central City. But the kids followed him all the way to his car and the girl helped Joe carry her brother into the car.

In the ride to S.T.A.R. labs, Joe learned a lot about the kids. Her name was Andrea and his name was Andrew, they had a sister who had died in Star City a few years ago, their mother also died the same night, and then they had lost their father to Zoom. The kids seemed to have a terrible luck regarding things that involved both vigilantes, and now they were metahumans.

“We just want to help the city,” Andrea told Joe after explaining what they had gone through, “we want to help those who can’t be helped by heroes after the danger is over. And we had been doing just that, helping children in orphanages and helping those who wouldn’t be helped by the Flash or Green Arrow.”

“What changed?” Joe asked, “I mean you did say that that’s what you had been doing, what made you stop?”

“Shadow,” Andrew answered from the back seat, “She took everything away from the place where we had been working. Food stopped arriving; people started to get too scared to ask for help. She took the last thing that we had away from us.”

“You’ll be able to help people.” Joe assured both of them, “We will help you with controlling your powers and you will be able to go out in the streets and help people.”

“Maybe.”

They got to S.T.A.R. Labs seconds later and their conversation was over because they had to focus on getting Andrew out of the car. They went into the facility and were met by Cisco in the cortex. He made both of the kids settle on the cortex. Obviously, both of them went over to admire both mannequins which were holding the vigilantes' spare super suits, and Cisco pulled Joe aside.

“Joe, why did you bring these people here?”

“They need our help Cisco; they are metahumans. I would much rather have the here under control than out there on the streets where they could be influenced or attacked at any moment.”

“Have you even stopped to think that they could be tricking you into bringing them here?”

“I know, Cisco. But they seemed pretty scared about being alone.”

“And Eobard Thawne looked like someone who was very kind and loving. Look at where he ended up.”

Joe grimaced, “Give them a chance, Cisco. We don’t have any metahumans in our side right now; we need all of the help we can get.”

Cisco made a face at the comment of not having any metahumans in their side, but after giving the teenagers a sideway glance and seeing that both of them were engrossed in looking at the suits of the former superheroes Cisco had to oblige. “Fine, I’ll give them a chance, but if something goes wrong, it’s your fault entirely.”

“Thank you, Cisco.”

“Oh, and I will Vibe them.”

“Yeah, whatever, just please help them.”

Cisco went over to the kids and he started a casual conversation. They didn’t seem bothered by Cisco’s presence, but who would be. Cisco didn’t have a bad bone in his body. 

He wanted to help these kids. They seemed scared and lost; Joe wondered if that was what Barry had felt like when Abdera had killed him, scared. After all, he had seen how Abdera killed people.

His morbid train of thought was interrupted when Cisco screeched from the other side of the room. Joe ran over to Cisco, ready to fight if it was necessary when Cisco turned around and looked at Joe with scared eyes. “Joe, please tell me my name.”

Joe was confused with this very odd request; he looked at Cisco for a few seconds before Cisco repeated the request. Joe obliged, “Francisco Ramon. Why are you asking me this?”

But Cisco was not paying attention to Joe, he turned around and faced Andrea, “Dude, what the hell?”

Andrea winced, “Isn’t it terrifying?”

“It’s awesome! Oh my god, do you even know what you could do in a fight?”

Andrea looked at Cisco quizzically, and then looked at Joe, “Did he just call a memory loss 'awesome'?”

 “We need to work on Cisco’s definition of awesome.”

Cisco complained but didn’t think much about what Joe had said because he was now looking at Andrew, “So your sister’s ability is to erase memory, what is yours? To change memories?”

“Actually,” Andrew began, “my powers are much more terrifying than my sister’s.”

“Go ahead, show us.”

It took Andrew a few seconds but after suddenly the case holding the Flash’s suit turned into something black and liquid. He didn’t want to admit it, but Joe had never felt more frightened of someone’s abilities. He didn’t want to think about what Andrew could do with a person.

“Oh my god,” Cisco whispered as he crouched down and touched the liquid that was rapidly spilling throughout the floor, “Can you put it back together?”

Andrew shook his head and looked at Cisco with a look of shame. “Sorry for ruining the case.”

 “Hey, don’t worry, you can get glass everywhere. But I want to run some tests on this substance; Joe do you mind coming with me to the lab?”

Cisco’s cover wasn’t great but he got them away from both kids, he guided Joe to the lab and looked at him in the eyes, “I don’t trust his powers.”

“Neither do I Cisco, but I they are the closest thing we have to allies.”

“Do you have any idea on how to run tests?”

Joe made a face, “What kind of the question is that?”

“Of course, you don’t,” Cisco mumbled, “Well, just pretend that you are doing something, I’m going to try and Vibe them.”

Joe busied himself with rearranging the equipment while Cisco walked over to the kids. He placed a hand on Andrew’s shoulder and started talking; he stopped abruptly and Joe cheered silently. He had been able to Vibe something.

“Cisco?” he heard Andrea ask, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he heard the younger man stutter, “I just remembered something that could help you both.”

He ran back to the lab with an excited expression. He looked at Joe and smiled. “So,” Joe asked, “what did you see?”

“A bomb ass heroine with a purple superhero suit and a badass hero in black spandex.”

Joe wanted to answer, but his relief was cut short by his phone ringing. He took it out and looked at the screen; it was Iris, he picked up, “Hey baby, what’s up.”

“Diggle woke up,” Iris said.

“I’ll be heading over.” Joe answered, “See you there, Iris.”

“See you, Dad.”

He hung up and looked at Cisco who had calmed down and was now looking at Joe, “What happened?”  

“Diggle woke up; I have to go to the hospital.”

“I’ll stay here and take care of our friends,” Cisco assured Joe.

“I’ll let you know how they are feeling.”

Cisco nodded and Joe left the room. He looked back at the kids on the way out; both of them were talking about something that Joe couldn’t quite make out. He smiled and hoped that Cisco’s predictions were right, ever since the Flash and Green Arrow disappeared the cities have been gradually losing hope and if Cisco was right about Andrea and Andrew becoming superheroes, well Joe knew that the cities could use a new source of hope.

He walked towards the elevator thinking that even if the would never replace Barry and Oliver they would at least give people the flase sense of hope until they found the way to beat Abdera Winters. 


	6. Smooth Criminal - Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Barry are still trying to discover a way to beat Abdera Winters when they find the solution to one of their problems. They still have many more problems to solve but at least they have one crossed off the list. Meanwhile, Barry’s memories attack him making it very hard to concentrate.

> November 4, 2016 
> 
>  

_The silence that hung in the air was cut by Abdera’s voice again, “Will you listen now?”_

_Barry looked at the place where Matthew had stood, and felt fear coursing through his veins. She had effortlessly killed a man, and if she could do the same with a building. Barry looked down he couldn’t do anything against that, and neither could Oliver._

_“Go ahead,” Barry mumbled dejectedly, “Tell us your plan Abdera.”_

A loud buzzing interrupted his dreams. He knew what it was, so he rolled in his bed towards the buzzing and turned off the alarm. It had been a miracle that he had had to be woken up by his alarm. He had been sleeping less than four hours per night since he had made the deal with Abdera.

He stood up and took a shower and got ready. By the time that he was ready and came out of his bedroom Oliver was already downstairs. He trotted downstairs and realised that Oliver was reading something instead of making breakfast for himself.

He looked inside the fridge and noticed that he had been eating like an average person for the last two weeks, they had gone to the supermarket once and still had food left over. The fact that he hadn’t even noticed crushed Barry. He had been using his dear speed so little that he could eat like an average person (Sometimes less) and had managed to stay standing and feel like nothing was wrong.

That crushing feeling didn’t stop Barry from only eating a slice of bread that morning. He sat down beside Oliver after he finished eating his so-called breakfast. Oliver was reading the list of ideas they had come up with nearly a week ago. They still didn’t have anything that could help them beat Abdera in battle, regardless of their efforts they still couldn’t figure out how to beat something they couldn’t run away from, and it was driving him crazy.

Many things were driving Barry and Oliver crazy lately. Their lies, the cities’ state, their friends’ state, their inability to do anything different from trying to fight the impossible without even being able to get into the city. He needed to get a grip on himself, but he could manage to do it.

Barry’s phone rang at that moment. He had forgotten that he had stuffed it in his pocket and the sound was muffled by his body. He wanted to ignore the phone call; he wanted to keep working on their plans to beat Abdera but he remembered that there was no one who would be trying to call his cell phone apart from Cisco and Lyla.  

He took it out and read the name on the screen before answering, “Lyla is there anything you need from us?”

“I wouldn’t be calling you for any other reason,” she stated, “I need you both in the headquarters of Coast City in less than a minute.”

He looked at Oliver, who had been staring at Barry since the conversation started. “We’ll be there.”

He didn’t bother asking Lyla what she wanted; he just knew that she needed them there in a flash and that it must be pretty important for her to be calling at six thirty in the morning. “We need to be in the headquarters right now.”

“Barry the headquarters are twenty minutes away, we can’t get there as fast as she wants.”

“Yes we can,” At least the day would be nice for Barry in one aspect, “do you mind being carried?”

-*-

Barry knew where the cameras in the building where located, so he stopped a few metres before the range of vision of the cameras and put Oliver on the floor. He shot Barry a glare, “Nobody will know that you carried me.”

Barry snorted in amusement; nobody would care if Oliver had been carried by Barry, but he wanted to humour his friend so he weakly agreed to Oliver’s statement and started to walk towards the headquarters. Everything was eerily quiet when they got in, so they proceeded with caution. There seemed to be no one in the building.

They walked towards the office and saw that there was exactly one person left in the building. It was A.R.G.U.S.’s IT girl who was setting up some projector in the conference room. They stepped inside the room and the red head turned around startled.

She didn’t relax when she saw Barry and Oliver, “Mr Queen, Mr Allen,” She cleared her throat and took a step backwards, “The video conference that Harbinger ordered is almost ready.”

Barry couldn’t help but wonder if this girl knew Lyla’s real name or if she had accepted to work under someone whose code name meant nothing but bad news, “Do you by chance know who the conference is with?”

The girl looked scared, “I just know that the person that you will be conferencing with must be no one good. Why else would the building be shut down?”

Oliver looked like he was going to say something when the glass panes in the conference room flickered and showed a blue screen. The girl turned round and then turned back to Barry and Oliver. “That’s my cue to go.”

Barry wanted to protest; he didn’t even know the girl’s name, he didn’t even have the chance to thank her, but the girl had exited the room before Barry could protest. She slammed the door behind her and Barry couldn’t shout a thank you as she exited the office section.

He turned to the screens and he saw that there was a big sign that said ‘Waiting to be admitted into conference.’ He didn’t know how long it would take so he decided to take a sit beside Oliver, who had sat down only a few seconds before. He was glad he had made that decision, because when they were admitted into the conference a few seconds later, he felt his world sway.

Transmitting from two different screens were two different people, on the left side Lyla was staring at them, with stern eyes and brown hair, but from the other side, Abdera Winters was staring at them. Abdera smiled at them; she was surrounded by a curtain of shadows that seemed to come from out of her making her look very powerful. That couldn’t be something that happened by accident.

Lyla, on the other hand, was sitting in a simple office, surrounded by mundane things like a stapler and computers. If he had no idea who Abdera and Lyla were he would have immediately singled Abdera out as the leader. That wasn’t a very good start for this conversation.

“I’m happy that you could join us in this conversation, I was hoping I could talk to you,” Abdera stated sweetly.

Oliver glared at Lyla, “What are you doing?”

Lyla ran a hand over her face before answering, “People inside the city are dying. We need Abdera to let shipments in; the cities will die if we don’t do the necessary.”

“She,” Oliver said pointing at the screen that held Abdera’s face “cannot be trusted. We tried that and the people that she said she would protect nearly died.”

“You are still sore over your friends’ accident?” Abdera asked, feigning concern, “Ollie, you know that I had nothing to do with it, not directly anyway.”

Oliver slapped his hand on the table, “First of all; you don’t have the right to call me Ollie. Secondly, you did have to do with their accident; you didn’t warn the city on propose. You killed, god knows how many people because you wanted to test your wall and cause fear.”

“Those are some bold accusations you are making, _Ollie_ ,” Barry could feel Oliver’s anger radiating from him, as Abdera continued to use the nickname, “but they are not far from the truth.”

Lyla interrupted their conversation before Oliver could snap at Abdera. “We were talking about a trade, something that would please Abdera and would benefit us.”

It was Barry’s turn to make the question. “How are we involved in this?”

“Do you remember what I told you when we first met?”

_Oliver wasn’t going to listen to the plan without asking some questions first, so he made the obvious question, the one that everyone was asking themselves from the moment Abdera had attacked both cities. “Why are you doing this?”_

_The hurt in Abdera’s eyes didn’t reflect on her voice, “These cities took everything away from me, and neither of you made the effort to save my family or me.”_

_“So what are you going to do with us?”_

_“I’m going to take everything away from you, just like you did from me when you didn't help my mum, my dad, or my siblings.”_

“I do,” Barry knew exactly where this conversation was heading to.

“My intentions stay the same, Barry.” She affirmed, “That’s why you are involved. You will be the thing that will make me happy. My reward for letting A.R.G.U.S. save your cities.”

“And how exactly are you planning to use us as a reward?”

“I will let A.R.G.U.S. ship food and goods towards the city with the condition that you will fake your death to the whole country, we will release a video of me killing you to the media and you will be declared dead. In both your civilian forms and your vigilante forms.” She smiled again like this was something that could make someone happy.

Barry knew that this wasn’t making her happy; it was giving her the illusion of it. But he also knew that there was no talking her out of this, they would either stop her or suffer the consequences of failing. He looked at Oliver and his partner sighed when he saw Barry’s expression. He turned towards the camera and looked towards Abdera, “Fine,” Barry snapped, “we will do it. We will fake our deaths to the media, but we will not reveal our secret identity.”

“No identity reveal, no food shipment deal.” asked Abdera.

Barry had run out of ideas but Oliver hadn't. Oliver, the person who had been in the business of deceiving for a long time. He knew Oliver could still play with Abdera, letting her think that she had control in this game. "You will publish the video before the food shipment into the cities. A.R.G.U.S. will access the cities, supply the city with goods and after that, you can reveal both of our identities." 

"What will be the difference?" Abdera asked. 

"We'll get to say goodbye," Oliver answered smoothly. 

"I will not acce-" 

But Oliver interrupted her, "You still need us to act for your video, and if you don't have proof of our deaths people will not believe you. You either agree to the terms of timing or the people won't lose any hope." 

Abdera wrinkled her nose but agreed to Oliver's policy. Oliver might have earned them a few days but Abdera still had the upper hand and she knew it. 

“Very well,” said Lyla, who had been silent while the conversation happened, “now that we have agreed on what we are going to exchange for the well-being of the cities let’s get to planning the event.”

Abdera smiled through the whole thing reminding Barry that she had the upper hand here and that if they took one wrong step, they would kill both of their cities. When Oliver leant over and asked Barry if he was okay he didn’t know what to say; he honestly didn’t know.

-*-

After the conference, they went down to the training rooms to fight for a while. They both needed it, they both needed to let off some steam, to take their minds off many things. They trained with the batons for half an hour before Barry had let his frustration get the best of him.

There was just so much going on his head. He started to hit harder and faster because of this. Each hit was like getting rid of one of his problems. Each time he hit Oliver hard he felt like he was letting everything out. Each time he heard the baton join with Oliver’s rod he felt better like it was his turn to hit life in the face.

Making Cisco lie to his friends, breaking his friends’ hearts, making a prison for both cities, not being able to take down Abdera Winters, not having the answer to their problems.

He started to see how Oliver was having trouble with defending himself from Barry’s attacks, and not because they were fast but because they were so strong and so well delivered. The final blow was the one directed to a problem he had had his whole life. First in school, then at work, then as a human being and now as a hero, he was never able to fit into those. He never did and he never would. _He would never fit in_.

He raised his baton high in the air and brought it down with so much strength that both Oliver’s and his rod broke. Splinters flew through the air and he had just the enough time to stop his arms before he hit Oliver in the head.

Barry was breathing heavily; he could taste blood and he felt his heart beat behind his ears. He looked at Oliver with apologetic eyes and saw the look on Oliver’s face. He looked like if he recognized what Barry was going through right now. Of course, how couldn’t he, he had been in the superhero business for much longer than Barry, and he must have felt like he didn’t fit into society.

Oliver must have felt like that at least once, right? But then again Oliver's look could be just directed at the anger that Barry had been letting out. Maybe Oliver could relate to anger. No, not maybe, Oliver was relating to anger. Oliver had been angry for a very long time. 

He let his stick drop and he felt his knees buckle. Three weeks of not eating enough were starting to catch up now when he had just fought nonstop with Oliver for thirty minutes and his body was trying to keep up with the strength and the speed he was using. Barry fell to his knees and placed his hands on the floor for support.

Oliver kneeled by Barry’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Barry, are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” Barry breathed out, “I don’t know, Oliver. I'm not sure if I am okay.”

He hadn’t felt this powerless and weak since he had had to use a hologram to protect Central City. He hadn’t felt this useless since he had to fight as a hologram. He was fighting against something without really being there and-

He gasped and sat up. He was fighting something without really being there. He was not substantial while he was in hologram form; he had no mass and therefore didn’t block the sunlight and didn’t create a shadow. Besides, you couldn’t damage something that wasn’t there.

He looked at Oliver with wide eyes and thanked himself for mourning about something that had happened. “Ollie, I think I have the answer to our problem.”


	7. November 11, 2016

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picture News article wrote by Iris West.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a short update today, I just need to do a lot of things and didn't get to type up something big. It's an important update, though. Flash and Green Arrow are officially confirmed dead.

> Picture News- Nov. 11, 2016

# Flash and Green Arrow confirmed dead by the police one month after their fight last fight with Shadow.

 

**In a video released into the media by Abdera Winters where both of the vigilantes are atrociously killed by Abdera Winters were both heroes are confirmed dead. People in Star and Central City lose their hope.**

Last night, after one of Abdera’s attacks to a storage room in the city, the supervillain released a video to the media showing how she killed the two vigilantes.  Children, adults and elders were horrified to hear that both of the heroes had been killed in such an inhumane way, but their deaths leave us with one huge question; if they are not going to protect us, who will?

Abdera’s attacks had been getting bolder and hurting more people. The villain’s motives are still to be discovered, but as the days pass we are left more and more terrified of what Abdera is going to do next.

We always trusted our heroes to come back to us with a salvation plan. We had the hopes of being saved. But ever since we were shown that our heroes are not going to come back, every single worry we had was intensified by one-hundred.

People are getting desperate and are starting to do things an average person wouldn’t do. Crime rates in both cities sparked up since last night by nearly a twenty percent. There have been one-hundred and thirteen reported crimes since the release of the video in the media, more than half involve the death of one person or more.

Hospitals are going into crisis, unable to deliver the necessary medications to save lives, and they have to advise people not to expect the best outcome in their treatments. Who would have imagined that a single person could cause so much damage to both cities? Who would have guessed that we would depend so much on both superheroes?

After the causalities caused by Abdera Winters, we can only hope that the outcome of this situation is the best for both cities. But without the heroes who had kept us alive this whole time we can only help but wonder one thing; now that both Green Arrow and Flash are dead, who will come to save the day?  


	8. Eleanor Rigby - Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The secret behind the plan is revealed, and Lyla Micheals has to make a hard decision. When they finally arrive at Central City, Lyla's guilt catches up with her, but it's far too late to do anything. The deal is done and if she backtracks now the cities' fate will be worse than it was before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating yesterday. I was with a friend of mine the whole day. This chapter will cause foreshadowing for something that is going to happen, though you have no idea how bad it will be. I assure you.  
> I'm thinking about making the next chapter about Andrew and Andrea fighting; I hope you like this idea and the chapter you are about to read.   
> Be ready fro betrayal!! ;)

> November 11, 2016 

 

_Lyla’s heels clicked against the white marble floor as she walked into the assembly. She knew exactly what she was going to say, and what she had to do, even if it hurt the boys and they lost all trust in her. She would not let any of the cities die. She didn’t care if Oliver Queen and Barry Allen would hate her after they found out what she had done._

_The assembly room was a spacious room that had six large screens where she knew that the directives of A.R.G.U.S. would be projected anytime soon. There was a mahogany table in the middle of the room and one large chair behind the table. She sighed and headed towards the table, closing the door behind her._

_She sat down and prepared all of the notes, papers and things that she worked with; she was so serious about having everything that she could need that she had even brought a stapler. The screens flickered to life ten minutes later, and she had to turn off her cellphone. She looked at the screens and read the sign that lights up all screens; ‘Accept video conference?’_

_Lyla cleared her throat, “Accept video conference.”_

_Six people light up the screens. All of them from different parts of the country, each of them was the leader of certain part of A.R.G.U.S.  Except the last screen of the bunch; that was Abdera Winters looking at the assembly hall like she owned it. Which she did, she could control anyone in the video conference with her thoughts, and even if all of the people in the assembly were brave people, she knew that everyone there would rather oblige to Abdera’s proposals than have their whole family swallowed by shadows._

_“Good morning ladies and gentleman,” Abdera smiled amiably, “welcome to our meeting.”_

_Lyla had wished for a normal conversation but wasn't to surprised when her wish wasn't granted. She didn't expect people to stay quiet about the shadow wall._

_“This is nonsense Abdera,” stated one of the directives. Her name was Nataly, she had beautiful blonde hair and sky blue eyes, but her expression was always tense, lessening her beauty, “you said you were going to make some changes in the cities, not construct a death wall that killed at least a thousand people in both cities.”_

_“Those who died there were the lucky ones,” Abdera stated._

_Rage filled Lyla, but she couldn’t argue with Abdera, not with two cities at risk, “You could have at least warned them.”_

_“As I said, those who died in the shadow wall were the lucky ones.” Abdera said again, a smile never fading from her features, “What I have planned for the rest of the people will leave them wanting to have died in the shadow wall. That includes you, Lyla.”_

_“What can we do to stop it?” Asked the head of Security, Thomas, “There is always a way to prevent it with you Abdera, you wouldn’t have summoned us to this meeting otherwise.”_

_Abdera feigned surprise, like she couldn't believe that Lyla hadn't told them that it hadn't been her who called for the meeting,  “It wasn’t me who told Lyla to summon you here; this session was all her idea.”_

_“What Abdera is saying is the truth; she didn’t ask for this, I did. I have a deal that might interest you, Abdera. But I need the approval from all of the council of directors.” It was easier to focus on Abdera’s screen instead of the rest of the screens in the conference._

_“And what is this plan that you have?” Abdera inquired._

_“The only thing that I will tell you until you agree to let us send medical resources into both cities is that it involves Barry Allen and Oliver Queen.”_

_They all knew who the boys were, they were the ones that decided to take them in when they came looking for help. Lyla could feel the horrified expressions of all of the council when she stated that her plan to save the cities involved the two heroes. She guessed that they all knew that it wasn't something that would benefit the heroes._

_When Abdera stayed silent, Lyla had to make another move. She needed Abdera to at least listen to her._ _“Are you interested in hearing my plan, or should I retract my offer of giving you a possible way to hurt them more?”_

_“Fine,” Abdera snapped, “I will allow medical supplies to be transported to the cities. Now tell me about this plan of yours.”_

_Lyla felt a heavy weight settle into her chest; she was betraying both of her friends, but she needed to help the cities. “A.R.G.U.S. has taken Green Arrow, and Flash under their protection since they faked their deaths. When you give us access to the cities both of the heroes will be eager to return and at least say goodbye to their families, or tell them that they are not dead-“_

_“-and your deal is to give me the locations of both heroes while they are inside the cities.”_

_"Not only that, we will give you every single detail of every plan that they have, we will give you everything that you want." Lyla felt the weight grow bigger with every word. “A.R.G.U.S. will not intervene in what you decide to do with the information, and we will even help you if they do something unexpected.”_

_Abdera’s eyes were gleaming like fairy lights, "That will sure as hell give you more than just medications. I will allow food in once you give me all of the data. I will also admit clothes and hygiene products if you get me a conference with them in the next hour."_

_Lyla didn’t even hesitate, “Deal.”_

_“Lyla,” snapped one of the directives, “you can’t do this to them. You can’t do this to the people of both cities.”_

_“Do what?” Lyla asked, “Take away two of the heroes that ‘protected’ them?”_

_“You are taking away their hope.”_

_“But I’m giving them things that they can live from. Nobody survives from hope. What they will survive with is food, medical supplies, water. I’m giving them all of that in exchange of human emotion.”_

_The silent was terrifying. She knew what they were all thinking; she knew that all of them were thinking about how much Lyla was acting like Amanda Waller. But she also recognised that they though she was right, people don’t feed on hope, and people wouldn't be cured because hope coursed through their system._

_“All that support this idea say ‘I’”_

_The chorus of ‘I’ that came afterwards was enough to make Abdera Winters smile as if it was Christmas._

-*-

 

Oliver Queen didn’t look uncomfortable in the A.R.G.U.S. soldier uniform they had given him. Barry Allen, on the other hand, seemed so uncomfortable in the uniform that Lyla wanted to take pity on him and let him change to street clothes, but the plan had to be convincing. She had to let them believe that Abdera could mistake them both for A.R.G.U.S. soldiers if they were careful enough.

Lyla’s guilt had been great, but the moment that Oliver and Barry had come out with hope lining their features and looking better than they had been during their stay inside the A.R.G.U.S. headquarters she found herself not only guilty but embarrassed. She tried so hard to avoid them both and succeeded for at least forty minutes. Of course, she couldn’t do that forever. Minutes later they had seen her and headed over to her with hope in their eyes.

“Abdera did stick to her end of the deal.” Barry greeted.

Lyla faked a smile, “Yes she did. We were able to get out of Star City last night without any complications.”

Before they could keep going with the conversation, some soldiers announced that everything was ready to go. She silently thanked them for getting her out of the conversation. “Hope you have a nice trip, boys.”

Oliver smiled, “We hope you do to, Lyla.”

Lyla excused herself and walked over to the truck she was supposed to go in, but before she was able to get inside the truck someone stopped her. It was Thomas, and the look on his face gave away what he was going to ask, “Has guilt eaten you alive yet?”

Lyla bit her lip, “There was no other way. I had to save the cities.”

“There is always another way, Lyla Michaels. The idea that there is no other way is what drove Amanda Waller to do what she did.”

He turned around and walked over to the vehicle that he was going to ride in, and Lyla was left standing alone in the middle of the parking lot where they were getting ready to go. She didn’t want to be Amanda Waller; no one wanted to be Amanda Waller. The idea that she started to become her was enough to make Lyla’s blood run cold.

“Harbinger, is everything okay?” it was one of her soldiers asking her this. She got a grip of her expression and turned towards the Soldier. He was young, and his green eyes reminded her of Barry and what she had done. There was no going back now.

“Let’s get going; we have two cities to save.”

-*- 

Central City was visible five hours later. The dome of shadows was visible from a distance, and Lyla felt her guilt grow with every passing mile. She could imagine Abdera Winters standing proudly on the city limits, waiting for her victory over A.R.G.U.S. and the heroes.  

She wondered what she was going to do with the information that she had given the villain. Maybe she was going to ambush both of the boys. Maybe she was going to terrorise them, or maybe she was going to ambush them before they got to say something to both teams.

Abdera hadn’t specified what she was going to do. After all, Lyla had said that it was none of A.R.G.U.S.’s business what she did with the information that she was going to give Abdera Winters. Lyla had started to question her decision ever since Thomas had told her that she had made the wrong one.

Oliver had put her at risk before. Wasn’t this the same thing? But she knew it wasn’t, Oliver had been in full control of the situation. He decided if Lyla died or not, he decided if her sacrifice was necessary, and after a while, she started to understand that there had been very little risk in the situation.

There had only been a little risk because Oliver had full control over it. Lyla didn’t have any control over the actions of Shadow. Lyla was putting the fate of her friends in the hands of a murderer.

But that’s exactly what Barry had done when he trusted Harrison Wells, right? He had placed the lives of his friends in the hands of the man who had come all the way from the future just to kill Barry Allen. But the thing is that Barry had had no idea that Harrison Wells was the Reverse-Flash, they trusted him because they didn’t know who he was. They have no control over the things that they don’t know. Lyla knew exactly what Shadow was able to do.

It wasn’t the same because Harrison Wells, or Eobard Thawne, was kind and helpful to them before revealing that he was the Reverse-Flash. They had all the right to trust him.

She wondered what the boys would be doing right now. Maybe they were talking about how they could beat Abdera. Maybe they were exchanging stories about how they had beaten certain villain. Or maybe they were thinking about what was about to happen, looking out of the truck’s back part admiring the landscape as it roared past.  Whichever of the possibilities there was something certain, and it was that they were heading into a deathtrap, and it was all Lyla’s fault.  
Fifty metres before crossing the city limits Abdera Winters was waiting for them. If you had looked at Abdera without knowing who she was, you might have confused her with a teenager that liked to dress in black. Abdera had ripped black jeans, and she was wearing a loose, black t-shirt that moved with the wind. Her wavy hair was loose, and it hung past her waist, she looked very casual for a supervillain who had two cities terrorised.

Lyla was the first one to get down from the trucks, and the only one. Nobody wanted to fraternise with Abdera Winters. Abdera smiled at Lyla as she got closer; instead of Abdera’s expression being bilious it was so calm and amiable that Lyla could understand how some people could see Abdera as a very polite, very good person. It scared Lyla how easily people can pretend to be something they are not.

“Lyla,” Abdera Greeted, “how was your ride?”

"It was all right," Lyla sized Abdera, “You dress very informal for a supervillain.”

Abdera chuckled, “You can’t let villainy get in the way of fashion.”

Lyla wouldn’t laugh at the comment that Abdera made, so she changed the topic, “I brought you what you wanted.” Lyla stated, “They are on the last truck in the line.”

Abdera looked over Lyla’s shoulder, and then looked back at Lyla, “You made the right decision.”

She knew that Abdera wouldn’t listen, but Lyla could always hope that her words would make a change, “Don’t be too cruel with them.” 

Abdera looked at Lyla with an apologetic expression, “I will keep your request in mind. But I probably won’t follow them.”

Lyla wanted to say something else; she wanted to thank Abdera maybe for saying probably instead of definitely, but she decided against it. “Let your wall down, Abdera.”

Abdera nodded and turned towards the city. Lyla got into the truck and told the driver to keep going. Abdera held the end of her deal and all of the trucks passed without being disintegrated into shadows.

_The idea that there is no other way is what drove Amanda Waller to do what she did._

It scared Lyla to think that maybe she was more similar to Amanda Waller than she initially thought.


	9. Tell Her You Love Her - Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abdera wishes she was emotionally stable. If she was she would have had to go through the trouble of planning how to bring the cities that she loathed to their knees. Honestly, being a villain is so much trouble. 
> 
> Abdera WInters's back story.

> Abdera's Back Story 
> 
>  

Her life would have been perfect; she knew that was true. Granted, she wouldn’t be the richest person in the world, but she would have everything she wanted.

Her mother was one of the kindest people in the world. She knew that whatever happened her siblings would always have her back. Her father had always been her rock, the person who helped her stay genuine and calm. And finally there was her fiancé; she was truly the light of Abdera’s life.

She also didn’t live in the best part of the city, but those were things that Abdera hadn’t cared about at the moment. She cared about the stories that she created with her siblings. Or the many nights were her parents had rented a film, and her family had sat down in the living room and watched the movie eating pizza and drinking cold cranberry juice. Or the times where she would head into her fiancé´s apartment, their apartment according to her lover, and they would end up doing something silly like baking cupcakes after a long day of work or getting into a pillow fight.

She still remembers the first time that the hooded vigilante had appeared on television. She had been lying on the couch with Alexandra’s arms around her and they had been watching the news while their dinner was cooked. Abdera had smiled at Alexandra and joked about leaving her because the guy’s ass was beautiful as fuck.

Alexandra laughed something that Abdera loved, and then stared into Abdera’s eyes. “You wouldn’t leave me for a guy whose name you don’t even know.”

Abdera faked a sigh, “Might be true. I think I might be too in love with you to do that.”

Alexandra laughed again and pressed a soft kiss against her temple, “I love you too.”

They returned to watching the news after that. Then Abdera had to stand up and serve the food. She called Alexandra over to the table, and the vigilante was the theme of conversation that night.

She still remembers the week after that when Alexandra had proposed to her in the middle of the street, earning them some applauses and a homophobic comment that was drowned out by pure happiness and love.

She still remembers the first movie night they had as a family with Alexandra being part of the family. They had watched 2012, a film in which the world ended as a devastating earthquake ripped the earth apart. 

Her dad had turned to the couple that was huddled in the sofa beside him and told them that if they ever decided to have kids they needed to tell them that they had survived 2012 like badasses. Yes, the irony also ripped Abdera apart.

“We were strong and decided to get married,” her dad had imitated her voice, “your mother and I escaped the earthquake and got married shortly after that.”

“And,” Added Alexandra with a smile, “we got to save your grandparents and uncles in the process. How bad ass is that?”

Her mouth still remembers the taste of soil and dust as the building came crumbling down on them while they were crafting the wedding invitations. Alexandra, Abdera and her mother ran downstairs so fast that her mother tripped and broke her ankle. Alexandra was the strongest one, so she picked up her mother bridal style and kept running downstairs. She remembers running down the last set of stairs and being pushed out of the building when she heard Alexandra grunt in pain, and she turned around.

Her lover was nowhere to be seen because the building had collapsed on top of both her and her mother. To say that tears were streaming down her face was an understatement. Abdera screamed her fiancé’s and her mother’s name so much that she lost her voice. She had pulled her hair so much that the next day her scalp was hurting. She had tried to move the rocks for so long that her fingers bled for the next few days. She was so sad that she could barely breathe.

Then, the hooded vigilante was declared a hero because he had saved the city from a bigger catastrophe and Abdera punched the screen of the television because what kind of person is declared a hero after they let the two most important people in her life die?

When they moved to Central City Abdera Winters never tied her hair in a ponytail or a braid. Alexandra always said that she looked prettier with her hair loose. When they moved to Central City Abdera Winters refused to wear anything but black clothing, her mother had always said that black clothing was to mourn the dead and Abdera knew she would never stop mourning.

-*- 

Abdera still remembers the night when the particle accelerator exploded. Her brother was as drunk as someone can get to be and she was trying to help him climb the stairs while being drunk herself. Of course, alcohol made her forget about Alexandra, so they had been laughing their ass off when they missed a step or said something mildly weird.

Her brother had been the first to hear the explosion, he had frozen in place before turning to her with the most infuriating grin on his face, “I think someone is having a _blast_.”

Abdera snorted and then started to laugh hysterically.  Her laugh woke their sibling up apparently because there was a very angry and sleepy woman on the top floor. “You are lucky dad isn’t home, he would have laughed at you both.”

“Whatever Lea,” Abdera had dismissed her comment, “Help us up.”

Her sister had only walked three steps before the force of the explosion sent the three of them flying backwards. Abdera only had time to register the fact that her brother was slapped against the railing and his back made a sickening cracking noise before everything went black.

Abdera remembers for how long her brother sobbed when he was told that he wouldn’t be able to walk again. She remembered holding him in her arms for four hours and twenty three minutes before he fell asleep while still crying.

Her father wasn’t in a much better state. He had been in shock for the last few hours. And when she asked what was wrong he answered with a weak smile and an apology, “I know I should be crying about your brother but I think I saw someone die today. He was so young and he seemed so full of life. But when I found him he was completely knocked out and when the paramedics got there they told me the kid had gone into cardiac arrest.”

Abdera looked down, “Was he a good person while he was alive?”

Her dad smiled and she wondered what her connection with the kid was. “He was, and I know that the boy was going to be the best CSI the police department had.”

“Maybe you should remember him for who he was when he was alive.”

Her father changed from where he was sitting on the bed, sitting beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, “I never thought that my kid would be the one that gave me advice.”

The kid didn’t die that day. He did lose a big chunk of his life though, and the night that the kid woke up her family celebrated the fact that this was the second great tragedy they had had and they managed to get through it.

Two years later, when Abdera finally started to wear colors that were not black and had started to tie her hair up again Zoom came to town. She had had hope that the Flash would be better as saving people than the Arrow, he had powers after all, he could save them from much bigger threats than the Arrow could, just like he had saved the city a year ago.

But when she had seen in the news as Zoom attacked the coffee shop the police was stationed in. The coffee shop in which her father was stationed in, and killed everyone in the police force including her father and then topped it off with telling the whole city that Flash had never been there because he had taken his powers away was the night where she realised that she had bad luck with heroes.

Another hero had failed her. Another person that she loved had been taken away from her because the heroes weren’t good enough. Cross that, they weren’t heroes; they were idiots who liked to run around in costumes trying to get famous.

Abdera remembered how her rage grew and grew until she could only think about one thing. Getting back to the cities that took everything away from her, getting back to the cities that took her brother's ability to walk, the cities that killed her father, her mother, the love of her life.

Now she was perched over the rooftop in one of the houses in the same city that she wanted to watch die. But first she definitely needed to make the people she had suffered because watch their cities die, just like she had watched her family die one by one.

She twirled the chain in her neck, the one that had her engagement ring hanging from it, and she admired how beautiful the small diamond looked reflected by the city’s lights. It made it look like something was inside, dancing or playing as the light reflected and went through the diamond.

Her feet were hanging from the ledge and the wind was strong enough to make her feel like if she moved in the wrong direction she would fall. She could fall, but she was not afraid of it. The wind was cold and unforgiving against her tanned skin, but she couldn’t feel it.

Her rage was too much. Her urge to make people feel like she felt so that they would be more grateful with life, was too much. The world owed her so much. The world owed her the perfect life that she could have had. The world owed her a family, both her biological family and the family that was going to come once she married Alexandra. The world owed her, her life, and it only seemed fair for Abdera to take back from the world.

If the world wasn’t going to give her a happy ending, then she was going to make sure that many people had the same fate as she had. It was only fair.

She stopped twirling the chain and let the long chain fall down, ring hanging a few centimeters away from her ribcage. Tears were ringing her eyes and her skin felt cold to the touch but her insides were boiling with anger.  Something that had never faded away since the moment her life ended.

She would bring justice to the two cities that had taken so much away from her. She would be the one to take away from life this time, and it was going to begin tonight. Letting Lyla into the city had been something that Abdera was planning on doing a long time ago. Lyla was part of the cities, part of the people that needed to be brought to justice, and making her betray her friends was only the beginning of what Abdera had planned.

She would make her lose everything one by one. She would be the first of the group of heroes just because she had been the first to come to Abdera and make her plan easier.

She would then turn to the heroes and take everything, or what was left, away from them. The teams would slowly start to disintegrate and by the time that all of them were as alone as Abdera felt, she would move on with the rest of the people, killing one out of three people in the city. She would be quite amazed if someone managed to get out of this unharmed.

Then she would turn herself in. She would probably be taken to a prison hidden somewhere in the middle of the ocean but she would be at peace. She would have taken everything from everyone she hated with burning passion. She would have avenged her life.

She heard steps coming close and she didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.  Her sister had this peculiar way of walking in which she first put the heel of her foot first and then the rest of her foot. Abdera smiled to herself as her sister got close.

“Need any company Bera?”

“I don’t need it, but it would be greatly appreciated.”

Her sister sat beside her and put her head on Abdera’s shoulder, “Pretending I don’t know how to use my powers is getting annoying.”

“Don’t worry Lea,” Abdera assured her sister, “It won’t be long until you can stop pretending.”

“How many times do I have to tell you two to stop calling me Lea?”  

“Us stopping from calling you Lea will never happen.”

 


	10. Yellow Flicker Beat - Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before, Cisco was the only one in her team that knew about Barry and Oliver being alive, now Thea knows, and the welcome back party is cut short by a friendly reminder by Abdera Winters about the cities being under her command.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, guys, I'm back   
> This is the last chapter that will be a calm before the storm. In fact, I think that maybe this is the chapter that starts the shit storm of events that are going to go down in the next few chapters. I hope all of the events will be unexpected and epic.   
> Thanks for the Kudos, Comments and Support btw.

> Novermber 14, 2016
> 
>  

Thea Queen’s friendship with Barry Allen was something that hadn’t surprised anyone in the team. It had surprised Thea, given the fact that for the first time in her life she had felt nervous to talk to someone. This guy had saved Central City many times and he was literally the only person Thea looked up to after everything that had happened.

Their friendship bloomed the moment that both Scarlet heroes were sent to do patrol with each other while the teams took care of Oliver’s sprained wrist and Diggle’s injured shoulder after a cartel takedown gone wrong. Several bad puns and jokes later both heroes felt like they could always trust each other with everything.

For the first time in her career as heroine The felt like she had finally found a friendship that was light hearted and loving, unlike the rest of the relationships she held with the rest of her teammates, especially her brother, that seemed to keep more secrets and told her more lies than the truths they told her.  

_Decided to maintain the relationship with the scarlet speedster, she was the first and only one to volunteer to stay behind to take care of Barry when a metahuman friend of Abdera decided to attack the cortex and take both Cisco and Felicity after leaving Barry with injuries that wouldn’t probably heal in hours. She had stayed besides Barry, helping Caitlin lead the team of heroes that would try to take down the new metahuman. This new metahuman was able to paralyze humans, killing nerves and making it unable for the person to move._

_Caitlin had told the team that if Barry didn’t have regeneration he probably would have been stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Thea had been concentrated on the mission until she heard a groan and the creak of the bed. She turned around and found herself looking at a terrified Barry Allen. Must be pretty terrifying to find yourself unable to move anything from the neck down, “Hey, you’re finally awake.”_

_“What happened?” Barry asked, Thea was sure he was trying to move his body, “Who bad is my condition.”_

_“Not terminal,” she said, settling down on the chair beside his bed, “you just need to rest for a few hours and then you will as good as new.”_

_That made him relax, she wondered how awful it must be to lose something that is so dear to you, like the ability to move. But her thoughts were cut short by Barry, “Where is everyone else?”_

_“Getting revenge, they decided that no one hurts their friends like they hurt you and gets away with it.”_

_“Cisco and Felicity?”_

_“Ah yes, they went to save them too.”_

_He smirked, trying to lighten the mood, “Were you too afraid to go with them?”_

_“On the contrary,” Thea stated with a poker face, “I was the only one brave enough to stay behind and babysit you.”_

It was nine thirty p.m. and  Thea was helping Cisco with something about the super suits he was designing for Andrew and Andrea. Both of their cellphone were lying on the table when the call happened.

She didn’t notice it at first; the phone were in vibrate so that they wouldn’t have any distractions, but as the table started to shake very lightly and the diagram of the chest plate for Andrea she had been working on was ruined by the light vibrations she had to look up.

The name on the screen made her blood run thick, and she felt a weight settle into her stomach. Cisco tried to snatch the cell phone away, probably to stop Thea from seeing who the caller was but Cisco’s reflexes were turtle slow compared to Thea’s reflexes.

_Incoming Call_

_Barry Allen_

Thea’s finger hovered over the answer button a few seconds before pressing it. The voice that came from the other side took her back to the night when she had declared The Flash part of her list of friends. “ _Hey, Cisco. A.R.G.U.S. was able to sneak us into town without Abdera noticing. Are you alone? Oliver and I need your help_.”  

The silence that followed was heartbreaking for Cisco, dreadful for Barry and hurt Thea more than it hurt the two boys. Tears were running down Thea’s face, tears made of rage, betrayal and sadness. Cisco didn’t say anything; neither did Thea, so it was Barry who broke the silence.

“ _Cisco? Are you there?”_

“Cisco is here,” Thea sobbed out, “and you better be here in less than two minutes, because it’s nine thirty and you have a lot of explaining to do.”

His voice wasn’t laced with fear, or regret. He was trying to calm her down, he was trying to reason with her, just like the many times her brother had tried to do it before, “Thea-“

“I don’t want to hear your excuses or the story through a phone.” Thea said, “Cisco and I are in S.T.A.R. labs, I will be waiting for you.”

She hung up after she finished the phrase, and it was three seconds before a cold stream of air swooshed into the labs and Thea Queen saw how her brother and the friend whom she thought wouldn’t betray her stood in the middle of the cortex.

Both of them were supposed to be dead. Both of them had gone to the extent of fucking faking their deaths. Both of them had Thea crying in the middle of the cortex because this wasn’t the first time she had been told that they were dead and yet she had believed them.

“What the fuck?” She asked softly as she stared into the eyes of both of the people she looked up too. “Forget that,” she said a bit louder, “ _Why_ the fuck?”

“Thea,” her brother said looking at her with apologetic eyes, “we can explain.”

“And you better do it. I won’t settle for the ‘it was necessary’ excuse.”

Oliver cowered under her gaze, and she couldn’t decide what hurt her more, being lied to or seeing her brother, Oliver Queen, the person who survived hell and then survived the demons that were sent to hunt him afterwards, cower under the gaze of someone that didn’t oppose any threats to him. “We made a decision that you would have made in our place.”

“And that decision was?”

That’s when Oliver couldn’t bring himself to explain. That’s the moment when Oliver had to be helped by Barry. That’s the moment where everything started to add up. They had faced a difficult choice, one that they made it seem like they couldn’t get out off. Not without their teams anyway.

“You could have called us for help. We are a team, remember? Together we could have beaten her.” It didn’t mean to sound hostile; it was just the emotions trapped into her chest that made the words seem bitter instead of comforting.

“No, we couldn’t have.” Oliver stated, finally looking into Thea’s eyes, “Not when you were the ones put at risk.”

“What do you mean?”

It was Cisco who spoke next, steady voice and regretful eyes, “At first she only threatened the city. She threatened them with eating the cities up with shadows, but when they finally agreed she made one last request. They didn’t want to accept until she threatened to kill everyone who knew about them being alive.”

“How come you’re not dead?”

For the second time in the night Thea wished for the words to be devoid of emotions, it was making her look like an asshole. Cisco looked down, “I made a deal. I wouldn’t tell anyone about them being alive, and if I ever did not only would I die, but the person who found out would suffer the same destiny.”

Thea wanted to argue that they could take care of their own, that she didn’t need her brothers and Barry’s protection, but she knew that she couldn’t possibly fight against something he couldn’t out run. Now she was in danger, and very, very hurt and angry. Well, that couldn’t be a good combination, could it?

Yes, there was nothing she could do about her brother’s decision or Barry’s decision for that matter, but that didn’t stop the next words from coming out. She was too mad, too sad, and she guessed that the sour of the moment influenced her. “I don’t know why I trust people that will eventually trick me in some way.”

She stormed out of the cortex and went for the only place where she could really be alone. She needed to cool off, and maybe rethink her choices and words, but mostly she needed to be alone.

-*-

The roof of S.T.A.R. Labs was as quiet as it can get in Central City. Apart from it blocking out the sound of cars for some strange reason, the roof seemed to be somewhere else entirely. She didn’t feel like she was in Central City when she was up here. It wasn’t shiny and organized like the rest of Central City was. It was grayer, messier and for some reason made her think like she was in Star City.

Thea had cooled down half an hour ago, but just as she calmed down she realized how stupid and childish she had seemed back in the cortex. How extremely rude she had been to Cisco and Barry, how much hurt she had probably cause to her brother. She was ashamed of her actions, so embarrassed that she had refused to come down from the roof ever since she had gotten on it.

She didn’t plan on coming down until she had got over her embarrassment, and right after she did she would look for the three men and apologise for her ballistic reaction. That would have taken about half an hour more, but they found her faster than she could get over it.

Oliver was the one that opened the trapdoor to the roof and climbed out of it. Thea froze like a deer caught in headlights and tried to pretend like she hadn’t heard her brother climbing to the roof. He came to stand beside her and she really wished that her pride didn’t keep her from turning around and giving her brother a bone crushing hug. Her pride was asking for an apology while the rest of her was asking for a hug from her older brother.

“I wish it didn’t have to be like this,” Oliver whispered into the night, and Thea bowed her head.

“Like what?”

“Me having to do horrible things to you so that I can play hero and save the city,” He answered.

Thea looked at him and saw his agonised expression; it was her fault her brother was feeling this guilty, “It’s not your fault, Ollie. I’m sorry if I made you feel like it was.”

He smiled at her, but she could see right through the fakeness of his smile. She knew her brother was broken, she had known for a long time but kept denying it. She didn’t know if it was for his sake or her own.

She finally beat her pride as she huddled closer to Oliver; he wrapped his arms around her immediately and laid his head on hers. “I’m glad you are not dead, Ollie. I was starting to miss you a lot.”

He smelled like he always had since he had come back from the island six years ago, like upturned soil and cologne, and his arms were holding Thea tightly to his chest. She had missed her brother. He laid a kiss on her head and told her that he was sorry.

She really did believe him when he said that, but deep inside her mind there was a question that was becoming clearer with every single time that Oliver lied or kept secrets from her in order to protect her. She was starting to wonder if Oliver would ever realize that there will be a moment when she will not be able to be saved.

“Ollie?” She asked in a small voice after a few seconds of her brother’s warm embrace.

“Yes?” He replied.

“I think I should head down and say sorry to both Cisco and Barry.”

“Of course.”

But she couldn’t get a nice night in which she said sorry and rejoiced about their return, could she? Obviously not, her luck wasn’t that good; no one’s luck wasn’t that good. When the siblings walked back into the cortex, there was a horrible image displayed on the screens on all of the S.T.A.R. Labs equipment.

Abdera Winters, dressed in black casual clothes and smiling at the camera like she was on some TV show was holding three hostages. One of them was a very young girl with black hair and pigtails; the other one was a grown man with grey eyes and the last one was a teenager with dark skin and Indian complexion.

“Cisco, can you track where she is sending the signal from?” She heard her brother ask, but she already knew the answer, she seemed to be transmitting from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Something so complicated not even Felicity could take it down.

An argument broke out between Cisco and Oliver but she wasn’t listening, and neither was Barry. She took one step ahead and was standing right next to Barry; he had his arms crossed over his chest, and his brow was furrowed. She tuned out everything and just left Abdera’s words.

“-yes, I did let many resources into the city, and now the supermarkets are full again, and the clothing stores are full of all of the clothes that we could collect. But make no mistake, this is not over I still haven't had what I came here for."

 

“With this short show, I will prove it. I will make you realise that even if I was compassionate about bringing resources into the city, I'm still the same woman that took over the city, and I will be 'till the end.

“I would like all of the responsible parents in these cities to please get their children away from the TV. This is not going to be censored.”

Both the teenager and the old man whimpered while the little girl seemed too scared to produce any sound. Thea’s stomach flipped, Abdera wouldn’t. That was just inhumane, unnecessary, and evil beyond imaginable.

Kill three people on the public just to prove a point?

But that is Thea’s theory of Abdera not being enough of a monster to kill a girl, and old man and a teenager went wrong.  It started out slowly; first, the shadows that they were creating began to concentrate. They all began to scream in agony, and Thea’s ear rang with the awful noise.

She then realised that the shadows were not only concentrating, they were eating the poor subjects out, leaving nothing but an immense darkness behind. Slowly, the screams started to die out as they lost their mouth and then the terrified look in their eyes was gone when their eyes turned completely black before sinking onto their sockets. Soon enough there was nothing left of the people but a dark shadow in the form of a human.

Abdera turned her attention back to the camera, when she had stopped looking, The had no idea , she had been too distracted with the gruesome act that was happening in front of her to actually pay attention to the person who was causing it. “Yes,” Abdera said with a triumphant grin, “I read the Hunger Games and I know that the way to scare people is to show power through the media.”

Abdera blinked, and the figures were gone like they vanished into thin air. Abdera smiled one last time at the camera before speaking for the last time, “Good night Central and Star City. I hope you have a great evening.”

Thea hadn't felt this amount of irrational fear since she was a very young child, scared to go into the shadows because the boogie man would come out of them and eat her alive or take her to the shadow realm. She had dismissed the boogieman as a children horror story long ago. She now knew for a fact that the boogie man existed, and her name was Abdera Winters. 


	11. Somebody To Love - Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the day before they have to take down Abdera and things seem to be going pretty well. Some feelings have changed, new teammates and the realisation of their lives. Barry Allen would be a dangerous enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!   
> Sorry for not posting this week. But here goes a long chapter to make up for it.

> November 16, 2016

 

The moment that Oliver and Barry came across Iris on the street, Oliver could hear Barry’s heart breaking to pieces. Hell, everyone in the street could hear his heart shattering on the hard ground. The weird thing wasn’t that Barry was heartbroken over Iris; the strange thing was that there was nothing to be heartbroken over.

They had been getting lunch in a place far away from everything they knew. Cisco had insisted in them going to eat lunch so that Barry would get all of the calories he needed and they had had to oblige. They never expected to bump into Iris, or well gape as she walked down the street so engrossed in her phone she didn’t notice them.

Iris was walking alone down the street with a stern look on her face while texting someone. There was nothing that Barry could be sad over. His childhood love was still single according to Cisco. There were no signs of damage on her, and she looked perfectly healthy, but when Oliver looked over to Barry, the heartbreak on the younger man’s eyes was palpable.

There was no love in Barry’s eyes like there usually was when he looked at Iris. There was no admiration in his eyes like there usually was when Iris wore a cute outfit. There was no happiness, just sadness, confusion and heartbreak.

Oliver’s expression was full of concern for the other man, “Barry?”

Barry sighed and took his eyes off Iris. She walked down the street and turned the corner, disappearing out of eyesight, “I’m sorry. I guess seeing Iris again shocked me.”

Oliver nodded, maybe he had misinterpreted the feeling of longing with confusion, “Don’t worry, when this is over you’ll get to sort out your feelings with her.”

Barry looked to where Iris had turned the corner and disappeared, “That’s the thing, Ollie; I think I’m not in love with her anymore.”

“What?” Oliver asked, so he had read the feeling of heartbreak correctly, “But Barry you have been in love with her since forever. Those feelings don’t fade away quickly.”

“But they will fade away if you are not fast enough,” Barry said, words laced with regret, “I took too long, and not being with her for so long made them fade away.”

“You didn’t have her for nine months of your life.”

“I don’t know, Oliver,” But Oliver got the feeling Barry did know the reason for why he had fallen out of love with Iris, “I just don’t feel it anymore.”

-*-

The call from Lyla came an hour after the Iris incident. Oliver was confused, Lyla had told them that they had exactly three days in Central City, three days in which Oliver and Barry had to decide if they wanted to stay there or fight Abdera from Star City. Abdera would be heading with them to Star City when they left, if they even left, if they decided not to fight Abdera in Central City.

It had been one day since they had arrived at the city, they didn’t have to make their choice until the night before they left. That was tomorrow after sunset. He answered the call anyway; God knows what Lyla had to say to them, “Lyla.”

“ _Oliver_ ,” she answered as a greeting, “ _I need you and Barry in the City Square tomorrow by six, Abdera has arranged a meeting with all of the people that brought the resources here and it’s your time to kill her_.”

“We’ll be there,” He assured her, “But we are not killing her.”

Lyla sighed, “I hope you are making the right decision.”

Oliver hung up, not knowing what else to say. He really hoped that they were making the right thing by not killing Abdera. He looked over at Barry, his partner looked at him expectantly, and Oliver announced that they would have their chance to defeat Abdera the day after that.

Barry made a face, “I don’t know man. This seems too easy; Abdera would never be stupid enough to make a meeting with people who most likely murder her at the sight.”

Oliver hummed in agreement, “Do you think it’s a trap?”

“Maybe she knows we are in town and is trying to draw us out.”

Oliver frowned, “We can’t do this alone.”

“We can’t risk getting our teams involved either,” Barry argued.

They kept walking down the street heading towards the abandoned storage room they had been using as a lair. Both silent, both thinking about what they needed to do to beat Abdera, who they could team up other than A.R.G.U.S., they turned the corner, and Oliver recalled something that Thea and Cisco had been talking about, some new additions to their team, new metahumans that they could use.

“Didn’t Cisco say something about some metahumans that joined the teams recently?” Oliver asked.

“Yes,” Barry said, catching Oliver’s train of thought, “He stated that both of them were stronger than me and could help us if we agreed.”

Was Oliver desperate enough to protect their teams that he would risk someone else’s life? He knew the answer, and it wasn’t something that he was proud of, “We could ask Cisco to call them over. I’m sure that they will be anxious to help.”

Barry looked down, he knew the man enough to know that he was asking himself the same question Oliver had asked himself seconds before. He needed an answer, he needed it fast. Finally, Barry looked up and took his cell phone out of his pocket, “I’ll call him right now.”

Yes, the answer would always be yes.

-*-

Andrew and Andrea were not only very powerful people; they were also extremely determined to help Barry and Oliver. He had to admit, the moment Andrew had entered the room he didn’t think that the kid would be much of a threat to Abdera, but as Cisco made Oliver shot at the boy and the arrow became a cloud of grey air Oliver could only feel intimidated.

The kid in a wheelchair could destroy the whole world with his thoughts.

But, regardless of how destructive Andrew’s powers were it was Andrea who scared the crap out of Oliver when she made Barry say his own name and instead of answering Barry Allen he answered Sebastian Smythe. It scared Oliver how she could have already changed everyone’s memory, and no one would have noticed.

“Isn’t it crazy?” Asked Cisco, childlike wonder in his eyes.

“It sure is scary that she just changed Barry’s memory completely.”

But instead of Barry’s eyes being filled with fear they were filled with wonder. Circling Andrew and Andrea and studying them like some experiment. “You can change the state of matter, and you can erase a memory. Ollie, do you know what we could do with them on our side?” He looked at Oliver and them back at the teenagers, both of them must be at least five years younger than Barry, defiantly siblings and strangely familiar. “You guys are so cool; you make my super speed look lame.”

Andrew’s eyes widened at Barry’s last comment, “Wait you are the Flash? Like _the_ Flash? Not to be rude of anything but aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“Didn’t Cisco tell you who the Flash and Green Arrow were below the mask?”

Andrea looked horrified, “No he didn’t, and I tinkered with the Flash’s memory. Oh, my god, I’m so extremely sorry Barry.”

“It’s all right,” Barry assured her, “I don’t care. What I do care about is what you could do to help the cities.”

“We’ll do anything,” Andrew piped in, “We want to help with saving the cities.”

-*-

They had spent the rest of the afternoon coming up with plans and strategies that went from the simplest thing that could happen to the most complicated battle plan. The thing was that it wasn’t Oliver that came up with the things. Barry had been jumping to conclusions and making different scenarios that could happen in the fight with Abdera, they ranged from her trying to flee to her trying to kill the whole city it a heartbeat and how Andrew and Andrea would have to help them.

Thea wasn’t there; she was with Felicity and Diggle taking care of the city. Cisco was there, though, and he was looking at Barry with amazed eyes as he came up with things unfathomable to everyone in the room. After a few minutes of rambling about possibilities Barry grimaced and ran a hand through his untamed hair, “Is this too much? I know I shouldn’t be worrying about all of this, but I just can’t get out of my head the fact that she can destroy both cities in a few seconds.”

“I think you are going to fry your brain, bro.” Cisco answered, looking at Barry with concern, “Thought it is really good that you think like this, they say that to beat your enemy you need to think like them.”

Barry gave Cisco a small smile and detached himself from the table, “I think I need some air, I will be right back.”

“Why don’t we all take a break?” Oliver suggested, and everyone nodded appreciatively.

That didn’t mean that Oliver had to take a break, but as Barry walked out of the storage room Oliver felt a presence beside him. He turned around to find himself staring at Andrea, who was looking at Barry with a questioning look on her face. She looked deep in thought and Oliver didn’t think that she would talk until she asked him a very troubling question, “Do you know how dangerous he could be?”

Oliver hadn’t really thought about it, Barry had always seemed like a sweet and lost puppy to Oliver. He had never thought about his partner as particularly dangerous, maybe because he couldn’t imagine Barry being anything but gentle and kind, but Andrea's question made him think, perhaps he had underestimated the younger man, maybe Oliver didn't think Barry was dangerous at all. “I never really thought about Barry being something other than good and loving.”

“He does seem like a sweetheart,” she agreed, “I would just hate to have him as an enemy.”

Oliver looked at Andrea again, and he couldn’t help but wonder what Andrea’s backstory was. She seemed kind and wise, she appears to give the same aura of friendliness and love as Barry always seemed to give. She drew people in, and Oliver found himself standing next to someone that reminded him so much of Barry that he couldn’t help but feel like he could trust her.

He started to think about Barry Allen. He was brave, he was intelligent, he could be cocky, rude and intimidating if he wanted. He could think like Abdera Winters, he could think like a villain, and he could come up with the most twisted outcomes of a situation. Barry Allen would definitely be a dangerous enemy. 

 He gave her a small smile, “I highly doubt it will ever happen, but if Barry Allen ever becomes a Super Villain, we would all be screwed.”

She looked at him with kind eyes and a warm smile, “People had said that the Green Arrow was a jerk, but I kind of like the guy you know?”

“That’s a first,” Oliver remarked.

“I’m pretty sure Barry likes you a lot,” She stated.

“Oh he likes Oliver all right, but he told me that the Green Arrow was a jerk, kind of stung.”

She laughed, and he didn’t feel as good as he felt when he managed to make Barry smile but he definitely liked this girl, a lot. She reminded him of Barry in so many ways. How much she liked people, how easily she decided if you were a friend or an enemy, how genuine she seemed to be. But his attention changed from her to Barry once he walked into the room laughing with Andrew hot on his heels.

He felt Andrea lean closer and as she spoke he felt her hot breath on his neck, “I’m pretty sure you like Barry a lot.”

The whisper sent chills down his back, but he didn’t deny the accusation, “I do.”

Barry and Andrew walked over, both of them laughing their heads off and Oliver realised that if this worked out, they would have two great additions to the teams. Apart from being very powerful and willing to help, they seemed to be getting along with both of the pretty well.

Cisco arrived a few minutes later and found the four of them talking and smiling. He didn’t remark how fast Oliver had loosened up to these two that would just ruin the moment and would probably make Oliver stop acting so comfortable. Nobody wanted that, so Cisco cleared his throat, and they continued their ‘Take Abdera Winters down’ Talk.

After a few minutes, Oliver came up with an idea, “Andrea, could you erase someone’s memory completely?”

Her smile dropped from her face, “You mean like taking away all of their memory? Leaving them like a new born?”

“Yes,” Oliver said, “Could you do that?”

“I could,” She stuttered out.

Barry’s eyes light up, “We could erase Abdera’s memory completely, she wouldn’t remember how to use her power, and she wouldn’t be a threat.” He turned towards Andrea, who seemed to have shrunken out of her usual lively self. “We wouldn’t need to hurt anyone. We would just need you to erase all of her memory and the cities would be saved.”

Andrea grimaced and shook her head, “I would rather kill her. There are worse things to be than dead. Doing something like this would not only leave her like a stupid newborn, but it would kill me inside.”

“I have to admit,” Cisco pipped in, “that was twisted, and not even a little bit twisted. It was like Villain style twisted."

Guilt hit them both like a sucker punch, and it must have shown on their faces because Cisco made a face too. But then Andrew saved them both, not only by backing them up but by making their plan seem less evil than it was. “It’s one life in exchange for the millions of people that will die if Abdera acts rashly if Abdera gets her memory wiped then we won’t have to worry about her again.”

“Yes, well it does sound nice, but I won’t kill a person. Maybe I will leave her with the memories she had before,” Andrea stopped, gesturing the air for a second, like trying to explain with her hands before she continued talking, “before whatever happened to her happened but I won’t erase a person. I don’t care if she is evil.”

Oliver had intervened before the two siblings started fighting, “Okay, fine, you’re right, that was a very twisted plan, but it will have to be an option. Maybe a plan Z, if all of these plans that we have don’t work you might have to do it.”

Andrea nodded, “It’s settled then, I’m the backup plan of all backup plans.”

“Cool,” Cisco said, “no memory tinkering unless it’s necessary, I can live with that.”

Oliver looked at Andrea apologetically, and she gave him a small smile in return.

-*-

Back at the A.R.G.U.S. headquarters were everyone that had been brought to Central City to help with everything was staying, Oliver and Barry had been placed in an office together, given two sleeping bags and had been told to make themselves as comfortable as they could. Of course, them being in an office meant that they had to move everything to the side, and that took them a good half an hour. Barry could have done it in three seconds, but what was the fun in that?

Instead, he had decided that he would make Oliver move all of the things and called it revenge for all of the times he had made Barry speed his way through the house chores. He laughed when Oliver nearly tripped and made fun of Oliver when he broke the mug where the owner of the office kept all of their pens.

When they finally got settled into their sleeping bags and Barry had nothing to laugh about, their day came up. Barry sounded just as guilty as Oliver felt, “Do you think that our plan to erase Abdera was too twisted?”

“If I answer that question you won’t like the answer.”

Barry sighed, “Andrea seemed pretty shaken up by the fact that we thought about making her do that.”

“She is a good person Barry,” Oliver defended her; “She wouldn’t want to be involved in something as horrible as that.”

Barry stayed quiet for a moment, “You seem to like her a lot.”

“She reminds me of you when I first met you,” Oliver confessed, “Good, loving and seemingly always smiling.”

“You sound like you want to date me,” Barry teased.

“Didn’t Felicity tell you that when you first met me?”

Barry made a noise, “She told you what I said?”

“Every word.”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry Oliver for saying that and possibly making you uncomfortable.”

Oliver laughed and closed his eyes then turned in his sleeping bag so that he was on his side facing the wall. “Go to sleep Barry. We have a big day tomorrow.”

“Yeah, okay,” He said, before huffing again, “Next time I see her, I’m going to kill her, this is so embarrassing.”

“Go to sleep, Bear.”

But Oliver didn’t fall asleep until a couple of hours later; he couldn’t get the words that Andrea had said out of his head.

_I’m pretty sure you like Barry a lot._

And his response in the spur of the moment. 

_I do._


	12. Empire - Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abdera is defeated, but for some reason, it feels like it's too easy. When they finally discover why it's far too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I have been a shit author and I haven't updated this is a long time, and I'm sorry. Here is your update, though, and it's super long, so I hope you like it. 
> 
> Get ready for upcoming angst and lame excuses from Oliver's part. 
> 
> And prepare to know Barry's destiny on this fic. 
> 
> Without further a due, buckle up because this is going to be a wild ride.

> Novermber 17, 2016

Barry was the only one that had to use the hologram in the end. They needed the element of surprise very much, so when Barry had suggested that Oliver, Andrea and Andrew hid and attacked when Andrea was in a vulnerable position. Barry was the only one not casting a shadow if everyone else noticed, nobody said anything.

As far as Oliver knew everyone in the plaza was well aware of Barry’s secret identity. That didn’t mean that Oliver was particularly happy about revealing their identities to a bunch of soldiers that he couldn’t name. 

He was looking at the organised lines of people down below, noting how Barry was standing on the middle line, shadow non-existent. The other soldiers all looked very similar from this height, everyone except Barry, who looked small and lean compared to the bulky and well-toned soldiers that were surrounding him. 

As Abdera Winters stepped into the courtyard, the crowd stirred, and Oliver’s stomach stirred with them. He bet everyone could feel their shadow live their side as they all followed Abdera like magnets would follow metal. Now Barry wouldn’t be picked out as the odd one if something happened. 

Then Oliver noticed that the shadows were following Abdera, they were forming something at the far end of the plaza, only a few meters away from the lines of A.R.G.U.S. soldiers. When she arrived at the place that the thing was forming on he realised that she had just created a stage. She climbed to the top of the stairs and addressed the crowd; everything was so quiet that Oliver could hear her all the way from where he was standing.

“Cool trick don’t you think?” Her voice was so casual that Oliver couldn’t believe that this was the person who had the city so terrorised that the moment people had heard that she would host a meeting on the plaza people had fled the scene in less than fifteen minutes. “I learned it a few months ago. I knew that someday I would be standing over all of you.” 

He could hear Barry grunt in disagreement on his earpiece. But whatever Barry might have wanted to do was cut by Abdera, “But I didn’t come here to show you my ability to create things with shadows. I came here because I need to remind you that you are not supposed to inflict hope on the people of Central City. I have seen what you have all been doing; the city is suddenly back to a kind of bright and light ambient. That shouldn’t be happening, so I need to do something to remind people that they shouldn’t be less scared because they have more food.” 

_“What is she going to do?”_ Oliver heard Andrea ask, and he couldn’t help but feel a little bit horrified, and not because of what Abdera was doing, but because Barry’s predictions were right. Abdera was going to do something horrifying, and Oliver was prepared for the worst. 

_“I have no idea,”_ Cisco said, _“But Barry says to be prepared for everything.”_

_No shit,_ Oliver thought, but kept the thought to himself, he couldn’t distract his partners. He looked down and saw as Abdera started to raise her hands, but Barry stopped her naturally. He couldn’t let Abdera do something stupid; it wasn’t in him to let Abdera get away with whatever she wanted, “Over my dead body, Abdera.” 

Abdera froze in place, head turned towards Barry. Oliver thought maybe she would try to kill him, drown him in shadows, but she just laughed. “Aren’t you supposed to be playing dead, Bear?”

Oliver couldn’t decide what bothered him more, Abdera calling him Ollie or Abdera calling Barry Bear. 

“I am,” Barry answered ignoring the Bear comment, “but I would rather be actually dead than letting you kill my city this way.” 

“You were doing a great job on that a few days ago.” 

“Oh don’t confuse planning with neglecting Abdera.” That didn’t sound like Barry. He sounded colder and angrier like Abdera had gotten on his nerves enough to make him act like an ass. 

“I told you that you shouldn’t have come back from the dead.” 

Abdera directed her palm towards the building in Oliver’s direction, and Oliver didn’t feel anything changes below him, but the screams of warning coming from all of his peers gave him a good idea of what was happening. Oliver didn’t need to see Barry’s face to know there was a look of horror on it. 

“Oh yes, I do know where your boyfriend is hiding. You really don’t know how to protect something you love too much; I have seen you looking towards the building numerous times.” 

“You wouldn’t kill him. You want him to see the cities suffer.” 

The building started to tilt below Oliver’s feet as he tried to run down. It had been stupid on his part not to bring any String Arrows, now he had to suffer the consequences. Not only having to run down eighteen floors but not being able to hear what Abdera and Barry were talking about. 

“That’s the thing; I know you are not going to let him die. You have a choice Barry, you either save the ninety soldiers here, or you save him. I’m sure you can’t do both.”

He kept running, and the building kept tilting. Now it was tilting at a much higher speed. “Andrew, Andrea, can you help Ba-“ 

But the building shook before he could finish the sentence. The building started to tilt, and suddenly Oliver was thrown against the wall of the building and passageway pain expanded through his shoulder. It was happening, whatever Abdera had done to the base of the building, or the building itself was working. 

“Oliver!” 

Barry’s scream was heard over the creaking and groaning of the building and the ringing in his ears. He wanted to scream at Barry to help everyone, not him, but he wasn't fast enough. The sound of thunder came closer, and Oliver wanted to scream. _Why_ did Barry had to choose Oliver over everyone else? 

Oliver wasn’t worth the lives of ninety people. 

That’s why Oliver wanted to slap Barry when he was back safely on the ground with the threat of tonnes of cement falling on top of him, and other ninety people. When they were back on the ground, Oliver glared at Abdera and Barry said something that was lost in the speed of the moment. It was only then that Oliver realised that Barry didn;t seem faced by the thousand of tonnes of debris that was about to fall on top of them. 

The building creaked and groaned before it fell on top of the people on the plaza, including Abdera, Barry and Oliver. 

He had involuntarily closed his eyes bracing for the impact and waiting to be crushed to his death by tonnes of cement, but instead when the building fell on him he was just pushed down to the floor by the force of thousands of gallons of liquid falling on top of him. 

People were thrown all around the courtyard, pushed aside by the force of the liquid falling on top of them and Abdera was flat on her ass with the gross black liquid that covered the whole courtyard covering her from head to toes. To be fair, it was covering everyone. 

Abdera, more than confused seemed enraged. Her feature didn’t have what Oliver thought they would have. They were schooled into an expression of distaste and betrayal. Oliver didn’t want to think why they showed deception, he didn’t want any more unpleasant surprises. 

Barry had somehow remained standing, and as Oliver looked at him, he saw a look of triumph. “You were right Abdera; we are nothing without our teams.” 

“What did you do, Allen?” She sneered. 

Barry grinned cockily, “Apart from getting ourselves new teams we kicked your ass,” He gestured around the courtyard. 

“I will make you pay!” Abdera screamed, “I told you to stay dead!” 

But Abdera was cut short by Andrea putting her hands on Abdera’s head, and suddenly Abdera fell to the ground with a thump.

Oliver should have realised that Abdera had made no attempt in swallowing Barry or Oliver whole. Or both cities for that matter. Oliver should have realised that Andrea had just the right amount of time to sneak over to Abdera and place her hands on her head. 

Oliver should have realised that as they delivered Abdera to her cell in the cortex and left her there, with a lost look on her face, something was completely wrong. Beating her had been way too easy, Abdera Winters was too intelligent to lose in a half-assed fight. 

Oliver didn’t see Abdera’s triumphant grin as he stepped out of the particle accelerator ring smiling brightly at Barry Allen. 

They walked up to the cortex with smiles on their face and a comfortable silence between both of them. Cisco was talking with the two other metahumans about how badass it had been. How Andrew’s way of transforming the building to liquid before anyone could be hurt was wicked. How Andrea had been so brave and faced her fear of leaving someone like a new born child. 

“I must admit,” Oliver commented, “it was a pretty bold move, you save many lives today Andrew, you should feel proud.” 

Andrew lowered his head in embarrassment like he was flustered about Oliver complementing him, “Thanks,” 

“You were pretty impressive too,” Barry said smiling at Andrea. 

“Yeah,” She answered scratching her neck, “ I just need to find a way to convince Abdera to let the walls of both cities down and then we can celebrate.” 

-*-

_Why play at being real?_

_No one wins in the end._

_Someone always gets hurt_

_when the others pretend._

_Stop pretending guilt,_

_when it’s not there._

Let’s stop playing this game

of endless _pretend._

-*-

The shoes that Andrea was wearing clanked against the marble floor in S.T.A.R. labs as she walked towards the cells in the building. She had convinced her friends with her mind games that she was going down to try and figure out how to meddle with Abdera’s memory to get her to break down the shadow wall. 

She wasn’t going there to experiment, she knew how to use her powers perfectly well. 

It wasn’t an easy game, the one her sister and she were playing. The one her brother had been playing until recently. It was a game of betrayal and false hopes for everyone, and it could really take a toll on people. Look what it had done to poor Andrew, it had made him team up with the good guys, and Abdera and Andrea had no other choice but to keep playing the game with one man down. 

But that wouldn’t be an issue for much longer, well if Abdera agreed on the plan that Andrea had been mulling over since Oliver Queen had fallen under her deciding methods. 

_I highly doubt it will ever happen, but if Barry Allen ever becomes a Super Villain we would all be screwed._

Andrea got to the lower level of the building and turned towards the Makeshift prison. She walked up the ramp, blue light illuminating her features and making them look ghostly and thinner. She turned the lock on the screen, and the door slowly opened, then she typed the number of the cell were her sister was and turned the handle once again. 

The cavity was brought forward and with it was her sister, pretending to be curled up in a ball giving the image of a scared and lost person. Abdera looked up and her features relaxed once she saw who it was. 

“Lea,” Abdera greeted, “where is Andrew?” 

The name brought a bitter taste to Andrea’s mouth, “He left us,” 

“I told you he would,” Abdera said as she stood up, “He is too forgiving, too innocent.” 

“I was not going to change my brother. I don’t hurt people I love.” Andrea sneered. 

Abdera raised her hands as a sign of defeat, “I’m not telling you to do it, I just told you that he wouldn’t stay with us.” 

“So what,” Andrea asked while typing the code for release, “are you going to tell me ‘I told you so’ for the rest of the evening?” 

“I might,” Abdera said as she stepped out of the chamber, her voice was now clear, “I might not.” 

Andrea rolled her eyes, “Talking about being one man less I think I might have an idea for a new integrant of our team.” 

“Did you find out that Cisco is sore over not being appreciated enough?” Abider asked as she perched herself in front of Andrea, casually leaning against the wall. 

“No,” Abdera admitted, “I found something even better.” 

“And that is?” 

Andrea had to suppress the grin forming on her face, “Have you ever thought about using on one the super boyfriends against the team?” 

Abider raised her eyebrow, “You know I only joked about them being boyfriends?” 

Andrea snorted, “Oh please, you can feel the love oozing from them. Besides that is not the point.” 

Her sister eyed her, “I know that you aren’t twisted enough to think about this kind of stuff. What gave you this idea?” 

“You will have to thank Oliver Queen once Barry Allen is part of our team.” 

-*-

_Another hero,_

_another mindless crime_

_Behind the curtain,_

_in the pantomime_

_Hold the line,_

_does anybody want to take it anymore?_

-*-

To say that Andrew had been bitter over the loss of his mobility was an understatement. Andrew had been enraged with the world. He had wanted to punch life in the face so badly that when his sisters had both offered to make something that would hurt the people that let this happen to them, not only Harrison Wells but also the Flash and The Green Arrow, he had not even hesitated about saying yes. 

Then time started to pass. 

He did work in a cause, he helped people in the city. Children that just like him were never going to be able to walk again. Not one of the children had shown any kind of remorse for the fact that they were in a wheelchair, just gratefulness about being alive. gratefulness about being able to keep going. 

Then he met the people who had lost something in the particle accelerator explosion. All of them had lost either a huge chunk of their life, or they had lost an ability they had. Most of them had decided that they were still alive for a reason, regardless of the disabilities that they had been chosen to keep going. To keep living. 

Then he had met Joe and Iris West. Devastated by the loss of their family member and broken by the fact that all of their team was in a hospital, in critical danger, but they had stood up when Andrea and Andrew had asked for help. Leaving their team behind to help them. Showing compassion regardless of the circumstances. Ready to help them regardless of not knowing who they were.

Then he had met Cisco. Sure, Cisco did;t trust them at first, and Andrea had to tamper with his memory for Cisco to trust them, but once his walls were down Cisco was a person so full of life and happiness that it had filled Andrew with both qualities. Cisco just wanted to help, Cisco just wanted to be a good person and save his city and friends. 

The final straw had been Barry Allen and Oliver Queen. 

Oliver was a wealthy brat that had been raised to believe that he owned the world. He went through hell, lost everything, he might have even lost a bit of his sanity, but instead of closing himself off and going back to his luxurious life, Oliver decided to become a hero. Sure, at first his methods were more than questionable, but he had changed, adapted to his condition and started to help people the right way. 

Barry was truly someone that everyone should look up too. Kind, compassionate and filled with everything good that a person could offer. Andrea had already threatened him with taking him out of the mission if he kept doubting on the cause and kept leaning towards the light side, but as soon as Barry had started to talk with him, he had no other option but to warm up to the Scarlet Speedster. 

_“Oh god,” Barry had laughed, “You are going to kick so much ass when you are trained.”_

_The comment had taken him by surprise, ever since he had been stuck in the wheelchair nobody had told him that he was going to ‘kick ass’. The faith that the older man had on him was more than flattering, “Me? Dude, do I have to remind you that I can’t move from my hips down?”_

_“You can change the state of matter Andrew,” Barry had said in a much more serious tone, “Look, I don’t want to go full nerd on you but let me tell you that you can do more than you can imagine. Changing the state of matter is by far the coolest power I have ever seen.”_

_“Also the nerdiest apparently,” Andrew had added._

_“Who said nerdy isn’t cool?” Barry asked indignantly._

_Andrew looked at Barry with a deadpan expression, “Everyone on this planet apart from you.”_

So last night, when Andrea had asked him to ignore Barry’s plan and kill everyone on the courtyard when the time came Andrew had snapped. He didn’t want to kill, he didn’t want to follow orders from his older sister, and most importantly he didn’t want to betray the group of people that made him feel special. 

_“No.”_

_Andrea blinked twice, “No what?”_

_“No,” Andrew repeated, “I won’t kill everyone on their courtyard.”_

_“What are you trying to say?”_

_He took a deep breath and wheeled the electric wheelchair that he had been given in the labs to face Andrea. “What I am trying to say is that I’m out. I won’t keep this ridiculous game of playing the villain up. I won’t keep following yours or Abdera’s orders.”_

_“You are leaving your family for some band of freaks the killed the rest of your family and left you in a wheelchair?”_

_“No. I’m leaving the band of freaks that is made up of several rage filled metahumans that are led by a murderous psychopath that wants to destroy two cities because ‘oh god my fiancé, my mother and my father are dead, now I don’t want anyone to be happy!’. Then I'm joining my friends.”_

_“They killed your mother and your father,” Andrea screamed angrily, “They left you in a wheelchair, and they killed your best friend. You should be teaming with us! Not against us!”_

_Rage filled him, she was wrong, but she was too blinded anger to notice, “First of all Andrea, it wasn’t their fault that mom and dad are dead. It’s not their fault either that I am in a wheelchair and that your boyfriend and my best friend died in the Particle accelerator explosion-!”_

_“It is their fault! It’s their fault they are all dead!”_

_He paused and took a deep breath before speaking, he didn’t want to wake anyone up, and he was sure that he would if he didn’t calm down, “News flash Andrea, people die.”_

_Her face was clouded with horror when the words left his mouth, but he wasn’t going to stop. He needed to talk sense into his sister._

_“We are all going to die someday, and death is not something we can stop, so their death shouldn’t affect you as it did.”_

_He turned around towards the door._

_“You and Abdera should get over it, I already did.”_

_Her voice was contained but filled with rage, “Get out of my room.”_

_“That’s what I was doing.”_

Andrew knew that nothing good was happening when he found Andrea sneaking out towards the rooms were Barry and Oliver should be sleeping, but there was nothing he could do against her. He was in a wheelchair and she had power over everything that was happening right now. 

“Andrea, please.” 

She stopped dead on her tracks, “What are you doing awake at three in the morning?” 

“What are you doing trying to sneak into Barry’s and Oliver’s room at three in the morning?” 

She made a face of disgust, “Why should you care? I thought you had left the team.”

He wheeled over to stand right between Andrea and the passage way to the rooms, “That’s exactly why I’m asking you. I won’t let you harm my new teammates.” 

Andrea looked at him with pity. Like she actually felt bad for what she did next. The blow was so hard the wheelchair was knocked over and Andrew fell unconscious to the ground. Andrea looked down and winced as she saw the blood coming from her brother’s nose, “I’m sorry.” 

The words had more than one meaning as they left her mouth. _I’m sorry for doing that to you. I’m sorry for what I’m about to do._

_-*-_

**_I highly doubt it will ever happen, but if Barry Allen ever becomes a super Villain we would all be screwed._ **

****


	13. Greek Tragedy - Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is seriously wrong with the world. Felicity knew that the moment that she realised that Oliver Queen was not only Alive but had slept more than Three hours. She just never guessed it would be this fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe this week I'm inspired as fuck, maybe it's the outrageous amount of chocolate I just ate.   
> You shouldn't care about the cause; you should only care about the effect. I'm giving you another update today and even though this update is anything but calming it will give you reassurance in what is going to happen in the story.

> November 18, 2016

 

Finding Andrew in the middle of the hallway in S.T.A.R. Labs was the omen that Felicity needed to realise that today was not going to be a good day. Blood pooled around his face, and there was an ugly bruise forming on his nose, but apart from that, and the fact that he was unconscious of course, there was nothing else wrong with him. 

Felicity screeched and then called Cisco down, telling him that as she entered the building she had found Andrew on the floor with blood dripping out from his nose. She didn’t know how long ha had been in this state. She didn’t care. She needed to help him. 

Cisco and Felicity practically dragged Andrew to the cortex before setting him in the cot on the far end of the room. They cleaned him up and left him to rest, Cisco called Caitlin so that she would come over and check on him when he woke up.  

Once everyone was calm again Felicity addressed Cisco, remembering why she had come to the labs today, “Speaking of Andrew,” she started, “yesterday came reports of a building collapsing before becoming pure liquid. I know that you are eager to test his powers but don’t you think a building was a little too much?” 

“Actually,” Cisco scratched the back of his neck on discomfort, “we didn’t do a test.” 

Felicity bit her lip and scrunched her eyebrows, “Then why did you make a corporative building turn to liquid?” 

Cisco ran his hand through his face, he looked not only uncomfortable but full of regret, “I can’t do this alone. I need them both here.” 

And of course, Felicity understood immediately. She ran her hands down her hair, putting her ponytail over her shoulder and looked back at Cisco, “They are alive.” 

“Yes,” he confessed, “both of them are alive. They survived Abdera’s encounters.” 

She pursed her lips and nodded, tears brimming her eyes. She didn’t know what to expect from Oliver or Barry anymore. She shouldn’t be mad, they had to do this, they probably had a very reasonable explanation for all of this. Oliver always had one, and now Barry had to have one too. 

“Please don’t be mad at Oliver,” Cisco pleaded, “or Barry for that matter. They had no other option.” 

“Oh, I’m not angry at Oliver. He has done the same thing more than once. I consider him dying something normal now.” Felicity stated, okay yes, she was mad but she was also very grateful and relieved, they couldn’t do this without the heroes, and she knew it. “But I am mad at you and Barry. This dying thing is Oliver’s thing, not yours or Barry’s. Do you know how much Barry’s death has affected everyone? Do you know how much sadness you have caused to Joe, or Iris, or me?” 

“It wasn’t his fault, Felicity.” 

Her heart fluttered to a stop for a few seconds. His voice was- _different_ and not the good kind of different. It was deeper like it carried the weight of the world with his words. It was also sadder like he knew that something was more than wrong. And it lacked its usual warmth when it came to Felicity as she was no longer the light of life, or the warmth in his dark nights. 

She turned around to find Oliver Queen leaning gracefully against the doorway of the cortex. He looked sleepy which was something new for Felicity and probably for Oliver too. She was sure that Oliver hadn’t had a good night sleep since he had to resign his job as mayor because of Abdera’s threats of killing the city of he didn’t. 

She bet that he hadn’t had a good night sleep since he had to fake his death to do whatever he had had to do. 

She walked over to him. If she was honest with herself, she couldn’t give a damn about Oliver pretending to be dead for more than once. He had done it before, and now Felicity was over with being mad about it. She strode over, decided to kiss the sleepiness away from Oliver’s features and was surprised when he took a step forward. 

_Consent maybe,_ she thought and hurried her steps. But she was met about a meter away from Oliver by Oliver’s hands on her shoulders. “I’m so sorry for doing this to you again Felicity, but there is nothing we can do, it wasn’t even our idea, so don’t be mad at Cisco and Barry for this.” 

She scrunched her eyebrows more confused because of Oliver’s reluctance to kiss her even though that they had been very much in love a few months ago. Oliver couldn’t possibly be over her, right? “Wait so if this wasn’t your idea then who’s was it?” 

“It was Shadow’s plan.” Cisco said from behind her and Oliver dropped his hands from her shoulders and walked towards Cisco, “She came here with a hostage and threatened to kill everyone in the city with shadows and all of the people that lived in it if they didn’t disappear from the face of the planet.” 

“Which led us pretending to die in Shadow’s hands so that the cities wouldn’t die.” Oliver completed. 

“But if you are back that means that Abdera is defeated. Which means that the shadow wall should have dispersed and that Barry should be here. So, what happened? Why is the shadow wall still up? And where is Barry?” 

All eyes turned to Cisco, and he raised his hands, “Don’t look at me man,” he said looking towards Oliver, “you are the one that insisted to sleep with him.” Cisco closed his eyes in embarrassment. “Not with him on his bed, I mean you were the ones that insisted on sleeping in the same room, in different beds.” 

“Yes,” Oliver agreed ignoring Cisco’s horrifying innuendo, “but five minutes ago when I woke up, Barry was gone. I thought maybe you knew where he was.” 

Felicity frowned for like the tenth time that morning, “You woke up five minutes ago? Oliver, it’s three in the afternoon.” 

Oliver frowned, but it was Cisco who spoke, “I try not to judge, but you went to sleep like at seven pm last night. sleeping from seven to three is a record not even I can beat.” 

“Something is not right.” Oliver mumbled. 

“Of course not,” Felicity commented, “you sleeping for more than three hours is a miracle.” 

Oliver made a face, “No it’s not that. Cisco you and I stayed past nine last night. We were cleaning the cortex with Barry. It was a mess because we were all covered in a liquid building, Barry stayed sitting on the desk like an asshole while we cleaned everything up.”  

Cisco looked at Oliver quizzically, “Dude, you must have dreamt that. I have been cleaning the cortex since this morning. You and Barry were to exhausted to do anything last night, you went to sleep at seven. I stayed here with Andrew until two in the morning chatting, when we went over to your room to say goodbye we could hear you snoring without opening the door.” 

Oliver looked ready to argue, ready to tell Cisco that Oliver Queen doesn’t snore, when Felicity interrupted, “Boys, why don’t we check it out? Just to be sure.” 

Cisco gave in, “I don’t see why it’s so important, but I will do it.” 

“It’s important,” Oliver growled, “because we are working with a metahuman that can change memory and it’s exactly what is causing this argument. Our memory.” 

Cisco typed something into the computer and then the video feed was showing. the hour was two forty-three in the morning when Cisco and Andrew got close to the hallway that leads into Oliver’s and Barry’s bedroom. 

_“You can practically hear them snoring.” Cisco in the video said._

_Andrew snickered, “Yes you can.”_

_“Well,” Cisco said turning towards Andrew, “I guess I will see you tomorrow.”_

_Andrew smiled, “See you tomorrow Cisco.”_

After a few goodbyes Cisco left and Andrew seemed to freeze in place. 

“See, I told you ma-“ But steps cut Cisco off. Steps that Cisco didn’t remember and steps that couldn’t be caused by Andrew. Then someone stepped into the corridor where the camera could see them. It was Andrea. 

_“Andrea,” Andrew said, “what the hell?”_

_“You know what I’m doing here.”_

_Andrew’s face filled with fear, “You are not here to kill them, are you?”_

Felicity could feel Oliver shift beside her, he got closer to the screen as if he was trying to detect what Andrew was talking about. 

_“Oh please, death is a gift compared to what I’m about to do.”_

_Andrew wheeled closer to Andrea, “I can’t let you do that.”_

_“What are you going to do against me? You can’t actually use your powers on me without killing me.”_

_He seemed to realise that he couldn’t use them without damaging his sister, “Andrea, please.”_

_Andrea had started to walk towards the hallway, and now she stopped in her tracks,  “What are you doing awake at three in the morning?”_

_“What are you doing trying to sneak into Barry’s and Oliver’s room at three in the morning?”_

_She made a face of disgust, “Why should you care? I thought you had left the team.”_

_He wheeled over to stand right between Andrea and the passageway to the rooms, “That’s exactly why I’m asking you. I won’t let you harm my new teammates.”_

_Andrea looked at him with pity. Like she actually felt bad for what she did next. The blow was so hard the wheelchair was knocked over, and Andrew fell unconscious to the ground. Andrea looked down and winced as she saw the blood coming from her brother’s nose, “I’m sorry.”_

She stepped over her brother’s body and into the hallway. Felicity couldn’t see what she did inside of the room, but another person stepped into the hall, it chilled her blood and filled her with rage to think that the monster of Abdera Winters had touched the labs. 

Abdera stood beside the hallway with her back pressed against the wall so that whoever came out of the room wouldn’t be able to see her. 

_“Oliver?”_

She heard someone ask faintly from the video. 

“No,” She heard Oliver say in real time. 

_“No,” Andrea answered faintly, “I need help. It’s my ones he-“_

Barry was out in the hallway before Andrea could finish. He kneeled beside Andrew, not noticing Abdera behind him. He checked his pulse and started to lift Andrew bridal style when Abdera rushed forward and hit Barry in the back of his head with so much force that he fell unconscious to the floor instantly. 

Felicity heard the door close, and Andrea came out into the hallway. 

_“Is it done?” Abdera asked._

_Andrea nodded, “Oliver Queen won’t wake up until it’s too late.”_

_“How did you even manage to do that? You change memories, not sleeping patterns.”_

_“The body is a giant thing full of memories. You modify the memories of the basic functioning system, and you can do anything. I changed his body’s programming, for lack of better words, it now remembers having to sleep for more than twenty hours to feel well-rested.”_

_“What a bitch, Andrea,” Abdera snickered, “Not even koalas sleep that long.”_

But Oliver was done with looking at the video, he slammed his fist on the table and then proceeded to throw a pile of papers off the table in rage. Cisco didn’t look remotely shaken by Oliver’s outburst, in fact, Cisco looked like he wanted to do exactly the same. 

Felicity turned towards Oliver, he had his hands on his hair and looked more than shaken up. 

“Oliver-“ Felicity tried to console him, but he shook his head and interrupted her. 

“We got tricked again.” He lowered his hands and looked at her in the eyes, “We got tricked again and Barry was taken, and I was left behind with a disadvantage. Twenty hours to feel well-rested? Are you fucking kidding me?” 

But Felicity knew Oliver well enough to know that he wasn’t upset because of his sleep schedule, well he was, but there was something more to his foul mood and Felicity knew that it had a name. Barry Allen was taken, his partner, his equal, the only person who understood Oliver in ways that none of his friends would ever understand him. Felicity even dared to say that Barry Allen was one of the only people that Oliver had dared to call his best friend. 

Now he was gone, and there was nothing Oliver could do about it. 

Felicity put her hand on Oliver’s arm, “We are going to get him back. I promise.” 

Oliver glared at Felicity, and she was tempted to put her hand down, “We _are_ going to get him back. I won’t sleep until we do. I’m just worried because Abdera _never_ bluffs, and if she said that it would be too late to save him when I woke up, I don’t want to know what they are doing to him.” 

_-*-_

_It’s wrong, but surely worst to leave_

_And she hits like ecstasy_

 

_So free up the cheaper seats_

_Here comes the Greek Tragedy_

-*- 

 

For the first time in his life, Barry wished that he didn’t love his city as much as he did. They hadn’t even bothered to tie him up to the chair warning him that if he even tried to move his legs, they would destroy everyone in Central City, including his team. 

The apartment where they were hiding in was something in plain sight. That’s probably the reason why the CCPD and his team hadn’t been able to locate it. 

Barry understood why they had wanted him awake and listening, they wanted him to shiver in fear of what both stars were trying to do. They weren’t failing. They were succeeding at making him grimace or shiver every time that they suggested a new way in which they could make Barry believe that he had been a villain all along. 

But maybe they were bluffing. That was the only thing that kept Barry from actually breaking down and pleading for his life. 

Then Abdera’s eyes lit up in a way that Barry had never seen them light up. She grinned at her sister and then started speaking, “I think that we have been looking at this in the wrong way.” 

Fear shot up Barry’s back, “What do you mean? What are you going to do to me?” 

“We shouldn’t be looking for ways to make him a villain from the start. We need to make him a villain because of things that might have happened on the way here.” 

Barry closed his eyes in recognition, he knew where this was headed, he had enough years as a CSI to recognise what strategy they were trying to use. They were going to Throw him out of order. A strategy frequently used in cases where the oppressor wanted to make the victim work for them or have a similar mentality to them so that the victim would either do the dirty work or join the group as a way of keeping them quiet. 

The only difference was that they could throw him out of order completely, they could meddle with his memories past the point of recognition. They could make someone murder Barry’s whole team and family in front of his eyes, and he would have to believe it because humans believed what they remembered. 

 She leant over Barry so that she was nearly touching his face with her nose.“So tell me, Barry Allen, will you help me make a list of the things that you love the most or will I have to find them out myself?” It was the first time the Abdera had avoided being cool and calm and Barry had to admit that she was scarier than he had imagined. 

The didn’t mean that Barry wasn’t mad or didn’t have the balls to say a rude comment to her. Usually, he wouldn’t snap like this. Usually, he liked to be nice and try to reason with the villains. But he was fed up with her. He was done with trying to be a nice person. He leant in and pressed his mouth to her ear, “Why don’t you go fuck the bitch that made you?” 

He leant out of the conversation and smirked at Abdera. He expected to see Abider’s face schooled into rage or hatred, but she was smirking back at Barry. 

“Perfect,”  She commented, “It looks like we won’t need to add ‘asshole; to your personality. You did that yourself.” 

She straightened and nodded at someone behind Barry. Cold hands touched his scalp, and he gasped at the sudden wave of emotions that hit him. Sadness, bitterness, betrayal, shame, guilt, jealousy, envy, doubt, despair, frustration, fear, grief, heartbreak and emptiness, replace the blood in his system. 

His heart felt like it was simply not there anymore like there was a hole in his chest that he couldn’t fill. He felt breathless and started to hyperventilate, trying to maybe clean his system by replacing emotion with oxygen. His limbs were heavy, and he couldn’t move them, and his mind was suddenly devoid of all of the specific details that had happened in the last few months. 

He knew who Abdera was. He knew who Oliver was. He knew who Caitlin and Cisco and Joe and the rest of his team were but if you were to ask him at that moment what had they roll been in the last three months he couldn’t have possibly told you. 

“You know what the good part about my sister’s powers is?” Abider asked, and Barry couldn’t find it in himself to care, he just wanted to torture to stop, “I don’t need to communicate every single idea I have. She can read my memories and since there is no actual present she gets to know what I will do before I can even finish my train of thought.” 

Tears streamed down Barry’s face, “Make it” he couldn’t finish the sentence right away, the pain was unbearable, “stop.” 

Abider smiled, “Say goodbye to the Flash, Barry Allen.” 

His back arched in pain as the images started to roll on his head like a movie. his eyes rolled to the back of his head and the emotions that he had been feeling started to match with the moments that began to appear in his memory in chronological order. 

Heartbreak and shame coursed through him as he remembered going to tell Oliver about his gigantic crush on him right before he caused the Paradox. The night had been starry, and the rooftop in Star City was not cold at all, or maybe it was his feelings warming him up inside. 

“I’m not saying that the feelings are not mutual, Barry,” Oliver’s voice broke the silence that his words had left behind, and with it broke Barry’s heart, “I’m just saying that I won’t put my heart at risk with someone that could break it really easily.” 

Guilt was the next to show itself. It was present when he had been sucked into the speed force for the second time in his life. This time, the speed force had mimicked S.T.A.R. Labs, and it was his friends and teammates that were talking to him. 

“The speed force chose you, Barry Allen, and you threw it away because you missed your mother and father. We trusted you, and you destroyed a complete timeline and everyone inside of the timeline because of a selfish desire.

Fix this, or you will not be able to access the powers of the speed force any longer.” 

Despair was next, it crawled over Barry after he managed to return to the original timeline and found Oliver Queen on the cortex of S.T.A.R. labs. He looked disappointed, of course, Barry had just told him what he had done. Barry had just told him that he had destroyed a timeline because of heartbreak and sadness. 

“You were one of the reasons why I destroyed the timeline,” Barry admitted, “I was driven by emotion. I really love you, and you turned me down. That, combined with my parents' deaths was enough to make me go back in time and screw with the future.” 

“You know Barry, I thought that maybe _I_ had been the one to screw up. Maybe you were more logic-driven than emotion driven, and maybe you wouldn’t do things as rashly as you do, but this proved me that I was right.” Oliver grabbed his bow and looked at Barry with apologetic eyes, “We could have had a chance Barry Allen, but you blew it.” 

Betrayal and bitterness consumed Barry next when Joe handed him the disowning notice. The words of the paper stinging Barry more than anything could. Joe was disowning him, so legally he was back to being Barry Allen and any connection with the Wests was left in the past. 

“Why?” Barry asked as tears ran down his face. 

“Family is dangerous for you Barry Allen,” Joe stated, “I know it must be hard, but it’s necessary kid. I have to attend my duties as a father and make you get as far away from things that can hurt you or that can be used to hurt others.” 

“You aren’t my father anymore, remember?” Barry had said bitterly before speeding away from the West house. 

Sadness and fear took away his breath as the images of a particularly harrowing fight came over him. The metahuman could see through the multiverse, and he had seen the mess that Barry had made only a few days before. Now he was telling everyone in Central City about how the Flash had failed them all. 

“He erased this timeline temporarily and all because he missed his mommy,” The red head looked at Barry triumphantly,  “I don’t know about Y'all but for me, the Flash failed this city.” 

Frustration filled his veins when he decided that he needed to show the city that he would be there for them regardless of what he had done. Yes, it had been a mistake, and yes it had been selfish, but he intended to prove to them that he was very sorry. He saved one hundred and seventy-three people that day, but the moment one of them had the chance to speak to him he didn’t thank him. 

“I appreciate you saving my life,” said the Latina that he had saved, “but next time leave the job of being a hero to people that care about more than just the glory of saving us.” 

Emptiness was the last emotion that showed. It came as he remembered hanging up the Flash suit. Cisco and Caitlin had been there hoping him get through the hard times, or so had he thought. Barry had been ticked off, not only because of what happened today but because of what had occurred in the last week. Then Caitlin said the final line, the line that made him snap. 

“Maybe it’s for the best that you are hanging up the Flash suit,” she had mumbled, “this vigilante thing has gotten the best of you Barry.” 

Barry snapped and turned around, “Being the Flash was the best thing that could have happened to me. I cannot believe that you just told me that leaving it is for the best.” 

“Barry I’m sorry I-“ 

“You know what? Don’t bother to contact me if something bad happens. Maybe you are right, being the Flash isn’t the best for me after all.” He said it with so much sarcasm that he could see it dripping from his words as they let his mouth, but he didn’t care. I that moment every emotion was replaced by emptiness. 

Barry slumped on the chair as Andrea stopped touching his scalp. Exhausted and emotionally drained he fell asleep almost instantly. Andrea looked up to her sister with a satisfied smile. “It’s done.” 

“What does he remember?” 

“Our version of the story, a version of the story that is enough to drive anyone insane. He is with us now. I made it clear to him that you invited him, and he said yes. Besides, I filled him with enough negativity to last a life time.” 

Abdera surveyed Barry Allen, “How will he act in the morning when he wakes up?” 

Andrea shrugged, “My abilities don’t go that far. We will have to see how he will react to the reality we created.” Andrea stuffed her hands into her pockets. “The only thing I have for sure is that he is one of us now,” 

Abider smiled, this had been an unpredicted outcome for her plan, but if taking away everything from these heroes meant taking away their humanity and heroism then she would gladly do it. She will gladly make them villains if that’s what it took. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never said it ad to be a good reassurance. Now that you know that Barry is evil because of Andrea's fault and that his memories have been meddled with past the point of recognition you must defiantly hate Andrea and me more than you should. 
> 
> This chapter was by far the longest I have written for this story, 4303 words of pure angst and heartbreak. I hope you liked it. 
> 
> Happy Villains Day! I hope you like the new addition to Team Evil!


	14. Fighter - Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's November 19 when guilt tortures Lyla Micheals. It's November 19 when Oliver finally meets the new Barry Allen. It's November 19 when Velocity is born, and the Flash is killed by the new Barry Allen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know I said that this chapter would be posted on Friday, but I have an excuse.   
> The most important football tournament was happening this week, and My Smol Country was nearly eliminated. It was an emotional roller coaster, and I couldn't bring myself to write this chapter. But today was a good day because I love Chile, and they won by SEVEN goals, and I was so excited and happy I finally could finish writing.   
> So here you go. I hope you like it.

> Novermber 19, 2016

To say that Lyla was furious was an understatement. She was furious with herself, for trusting that Abdera wouldn’t damage her people, and for betraying the people that believed her for the chance of saving her city. 

Lyla had been warned about not bringing soldiers with her if she ever needed to talk to Abdera, and then Abdera had handed her a piece of paper and told her to come looking for her if she ever needed something. Lyla didn’t need something from Abdera apart from an apology and an explanation. She hadn’t expected Barry to be the one opening the door of the apartment that Abdera had told her to come to if she ever needed help. 

She didn’t expect the cold tone in his voice or the fact that his eyes didn’t seem to shine like they had the evening before. 

“Lyla,” he sounded so aggressive, and his words lack their usual cheeriness, “what are you doing here? Don’t you have an organisation to run?” Lyla gaped at the young man, loss for words and it was only when Barry roles his eyes that Lyla realised that she hadn’t said a word. She was too confused to answer. Barry turned around towards the inside of the apartment, “Abdera!” he called, “Lyla is here, do I let her in?” 

There was a muffled answer and after a few seconds, Abdera appeared on the door beside Barry. “Lyla, I see that you kept my address.” 

Lyla cleared her throat in a lame attempt to clear her mind, “I need to talk to you in private.”

In a flash Barry was gone, given the gust of wind the pushed Lyla back she guessed that he might have gone inside. She looked at Abdera with unbelieving eyes and was tempted to not only insult the younger woman, but give her a good slap. 

Abider smiled sweetly and addressed Lyla, “So, what did you wanted to talk about?” 

It was hard to picture Abdera as the villain of the story dressed the way she was dressed, in sweatpants and a black graphic t-shirt that read ‘is this black enough?’ in black font. But Lyla was filled with rage and confusion that needed to be dealt with, “I came here for something, but now I have one question that is more important than what happened yesterday.” 

“Fire away,” Abdera leant against the doorframe. 

“What the hell did you do to Barry Allen?” 

Abdera grinned wickedly, “You like my creation? It’s the result of having my sister extend her powers to the limit yesterday.” 

“What did you do to him?” Lyla asked, a different kind of rage filled her system. 

“Why should you care?” Abdera asked, “It was you who betrayed them and subsequently led to him becoming this.” 

Subsequently? What did this girl think she was? A dictionary of some sorts? “Answer my question Abdera, what did you do to Barry Allen?” 

 Abdera sighed, “ Long-term memory change. I made him cold and bitter.” 

“Why are you doing this?” She asked, knowing the answer already, “Why do you have to be so bad?” 

“I have told you before. Bitterness, revenge, and anger do things to people.” 

It was Lyla’s turn to sigh, of course, she was doing this because of her rage against the heroes. Her senseless rage. Or so it seemed to be until Lyla had started to think about how she would react if everything that she loved was taken away from her and she had the chance to blame two people. It didn’t seem so senseless afterwards. 

“Can I at least talk to him?” 

Abdera opened the door enough to let Lyla pass, “Go ahead and torture yourself, Lyla Michaels.” 

She knew that there was an end to the sentence that Abdera had left Lyla to finish for herself. It was you that caused this to your friend after all.

She stepped into the apartment and saw a living room that had two old couches and two bedroom doors, one was open and the other one was not. There was a tiny kitchen and a balcony at the end of the apartment, one that was closed off by a glass door and held a single person leaning against the railing as he looked out into the city. 

Only them did Lyla had the chance to realise that he was dressed in a pyjama that she had seen him wearing one day in the A.R.G.U.S. headquarters in Coast City. One of the days were he and Oliver had pulled an all-nighter because of training and he had trained in the clothes that were meant for sleeping. 

She walked across the apartment and opened the glass door slowly. The cool breeze of the morning hit her face making her cheekbones sting, and the wind ruffled her hair as she stepped out of the apartment and into the balcony. 

Barry didn’t move an inch. She closed the door and in a single step she was standing beside Barry. Only then did she notice that he a glass full of clear liquid and his hands were gripping the glass so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. She looked in the direction where Barry’s eyes were glued in, and she realised that you could see S.T.A.R. labs from here. 

The sun wasn’t up, but it was bright enough to cast a grey light across the city. That grey light reflected on Barry’s eyes when she asked the question, “Why?” 

His eyes never left S.T.A.R. labs as he answered, “Why what Lyla? I thought you knew the whole story.” 

She didn’t because it was not the real thing, but she had to pretend like she did. She didn’t know who might be listening to the conversation. “Why team up with them?” 

His voice was emotionless, and somehow that hurt her more than anger or sadness, “Shouldn’t I be asking that question to you?” He took a sip from the glass, and she could smell the liquor from where she was standing, but he seemed unaffected by it, “Why did you team up with us?” 

“Need,” she admitted, “I needed to save this city. And Star City too.” 

“That’s your answer,” he stated, “I joined them out of need, too. I can’t work alone; I don’t function well without a team.” 

“But why joining the bad guys?” She asked when he didn’t answer she decided to add something else, “You could have joined any other team. You could have created another team. But you teamed up with evil. Why?” 

He finished drinking the drink and turned towards her. She wondered for a brief moment what it felt like to be unable to have a drink when she needed it. But her train of thought had been cut short with his answer. 

“I’m done being the good guy.” He turned towards her; his eyes were no longer emerald green but something that seemed darker than black, if that was even possible. It probably was a trick of the light, but it made him look more broken than Abdera could have possibly left him. Or that’s what Lyla thought anyway, eyes were like windows to the soul, and his eyes were as broken as he was. “I’m done with helping people and getting nothing in return except heartbreak and betrayal. I’m done with being careful about what I do. I’m done with not being able to make mistakes. I’m done with people being ungrateful. I’m done with being a hero.” 

Lyla had to pretend that the words didn’t affect her. Lyla had to pretend like she knew that Barry would take this road, even if the night before he had been thriving with energy and happiness as they thought that they had finally beat Abdera Winters. “So what, are you going to be a villain now?” 

He glared at her, “No, I’m clearly going to go back to S.T.A.R. Labs right now and help them fight Abdera.” He surged forward and opened the glass door. “I had been thinking about names before you interrupted. What do you think about Velocity?” 

“I think Flash suits you better.” 

He turned around one last time and looked at her with so much hate that Lyla was frozen in place. She couldn’t believe that sweet Barry Allen could muster such a look. 

“The Flash is dead.” 

 

-*-

_How could this man I thought I knew_

_Turn out to be unjust so cruel_

_When I c_ _ould only see the good in you_

-*-

 

“Are you sure that you lose sight of them on that street?” Oliver asked Cisco for the eighth time. 

“Look, I have tried to search for the direction that they went to eight times, and I still can’t get a clear shot of any of them.” Cisco rubbed his eyes, he was tired, but he was going to stay awake for as long as his body allowed him to, he needed to find his friend. “Look Oliver I want to find him as bad as you do but I can’t.” 

Cisco never thought he would get the chance to see Oliver Queen tired, like ever, but at that moment the Green Arrow looked like he could drop dead from exhaustion, and he had woken up at three in the afternoon. To be fair, Memory Bitch had messed with Oliver so badly he had to sleep twenty hours now, and he didn’t look like he was going to sleep until Barry Allen was found. 

Oliver ran a hand down his face, “What about changing the programming in the S.T.A.R. Labs’ satellite to make a facial recognition scan over the city. That way we could be alerted if any of the three stepped out of wherever they went.” 

“I can do that,” Cisco assured him, “but it will take at least fifteen minutes for me to reconfigure it and we would have to wait for one of them to show their face in public.” 

Oliver sighed and picked up Cisco’s, now empty, mug of coffee. “Do that and I will bring more coffee.” 

“I have a feeling,” Cisco mumbled. 

“If your feeling is that we are going to be living off coffee for the next few days then you are probably correct.” Oliver interrupted. 

Cisco nodded, and Oliver grabbed his own mug and walked out of the cortex and into the room beside it. He didn’t care for the long walk and the lack of attention that he was happening while he was gone, he needed to get his mind off the situation and clear his head up. 

Of course, getting his head off finding Barry meant having to worry about many things. Most of the involving the Scarlet Speedster. 

He walked into the room of heroes, as Barry liked to call it, and admired the all of the mannequins that held their gear. Barry’s red suit, Oliver’s two piece suit, Diggle’s helmet and suit, Thea’s red copy of his own suit and Andrea’s and Andrew’s new suits. Oliver hadn't decided if he should trust Andrew or not, he did take a blow for Oliver’s and Barry’s sakes, but he had been part of Abdera’s team from the beginning. 

Oliver shook himself out of his daze and headed over to the most ordinary part of the room. Sitting on the side of the room was a table that was filled with different types of items. Some headbands for Thea, an outrageous amount of dirty mugs and spoons, and a phone. Dear God, who was the idiot who had left their phone on S.T.A.R. Labs? Oliver out the two empty mugs down and picked up the phone turning it on to find himself staring at a back picture that he was not informed that existed. 

He remembered that day. Obviously, it was kind of hard to forget times that he passed with both teams. Nights filled with laughter as Cisco, Barry or Felicity did atrocious innuendos. Nights were they forget for a few hours that they were all part of the vigilante business. Nights were everything seemed okay. 

This specific night was the one that Barry had decided to buy Oliver a Flash shirt, and ironically Oliver had bought one of the first Green Arrow merchandise for Barry to wear. Needless to say, both teams laughed their asses off as both of them had changed into the hero merchandise. (Oliver had been in a good mood that day, he would have avoided the Flash shirt like it the plague, and he wouldn’t have bought merchandise for Barry to wear.) 

_When Oliver turned around, Barry raised his eyebrows, “You look good in red.”_

_“Green is a better colour.” Oliver pointed out, and everyone laughed._

_“Neither of those colours are fashionable,” Iris argued, “You look like the incarnation of Christmas every time you team up.”_

_Felicity and Cisco snorted at the same time and in a few seconds, everyone was laughing. Even Oliver was._

Oliver was brought back to the present when the screen of the phone turned black. That’s when Barry must have snapped the picture, at super speed with everyone laughing and completely relaxed. He was looking at the camera as if to say ‘ _These idiots’_ as everyone was laughing in the background. 

Only then did it hit him. The phone was Barry’s phone. He had either left it here after he went to accompany Oliver as he changed out of the Arrow suit or Abdera left it there as some cruel joke. As a way of telling Oliver, _‘I didn’t only take your partner in crime fighting, I took the man that you replaced Felicity with.’_

He stuffed the phone in his pocket, decided to check the phone out later, and continued the task at hand. He prepared the coffee maker and clicked it on before letting the coffee be made. 

He didn’t check the phone out; he needed time to think. He leant on the table and closed his eyes. Thoughts fluttered around his head, thoughts and memories. 

Thoughts like the impending threat of Andrea’s mind trick and how he just couldn’t live off three hours of sleep anymore. He would need to adjust his schedule over the apparent curse that Abdera had put him under. He needed to find a way to fit his vigilante activities in his new schedule until they could find a way to get him back to normal. 

Memories like the one created a few hours ago when Andrew woke up, and he explained that he had been part of Abdera’s team because he was his brother and he'd lost everything because of a series of events caused by Barry and Oliver. How that was the reason for Abdera to be bitter, cold and a killer. 

Thoughts like the one that had been driving him insane since Barry had been taken and Abdera had said that it would be far too late for Barry when Oliver found him. That is if Oliver even found him, which God he hoped he did because the guilt of not being able to help the younger man was driving him insane. 

Memories like one of Barry’s last words to him. 

_“Did you become fond of sleeping in the same space as someone else?”_

_Oliver felt amusement creep over him, “Don’t act like you didn’t, You supported the idea of sleeping in the same room.”_

_He had been seating on his bed, getting ready to sleep and Barry was doing the same in front of him when he was attacked by the question. Now he was looking at Barry’s green eyes as a right blush appeared on Barry’s cheeks._

_"Yes,” He agreed, “I just realised that maybe we would need someone to talk to about the fact that we are going to get murdered by our teams when they find out we are alive.”_

_Oliver cursed, and Barry laughed at his reaction. Oliver knew that Barry wasn’t doing it for the planning or the bonding over the fact that they were going to be dead by tomorrow, and Oliver wasn’t going to complain he needed company._

_He had been extremely irritated by Barry the first week, having lived his life as a loner and being forced into sharing an apartment hadn’t been a good combination, but now Oliver was more than fine with having Barry in the same space as he was in._

_Oliver smiled fondly at Barry, “Go to sleep; you deserve the rest.”_

_“If you even dare to leave at three in the morning just because you think you don’t deserve to sleep,” Barry warned him, “Because I will find out and I will make you come back to your bed.”_

_“Whatever, Barry.”_

The coffee maker beeped, and Oliver was taken out of the trance for the second time that hour. He turned around and poured the coffee that he had made into the mugs and absentmindedly prepared both coffee’s like Cisco liked them. Oliver didn’t even like sugar in his coffee, but he was so distracted that he had prepared both mugs with three spoonfuls of sugar. 

He was going to take the mugs back when he heard Cisco yelp and dropped both cups and ran towards Cisco. The mugs shattered against the floor and the newly made coffee burned into Oliver’s bare feet, but he didn’t care about the blisters that would most likely form on his skin later on. Or the cuts that must have blood oozing from them.

He ran towards the cortex, and when he got there, he wished he had never left. Cisco was being held by the throat by Abdera, who was considerably stronger and taller than Cisco. She was dressed in fighting gear similar to the fighting gear that had been crafted for her sister, only that it wasn’t purple, it was black.

She turned towards the doorway when she heard Oliver rush in; her smile was horrifying. Her face had the expression of a small child, very happy and full of wonder. It could mean a lot of things, but given the events of the last few days, Oliver could guess why her expression was so happy. The feeling of foreboding chilled Oliver to the core. 

“Oliver Queen,” Abdera greeted, “I never thought I would have the pleasure to see you in pyjamas.” 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Oliver spat, “Haven’t you caused enough damage this week?” 

Abider scrunched her eyebrows, “Does it matter?” 

Oliver had no answer to that, so he tried asking again, “What are you doing here? And where is Barry?” 

“Protective boyfriend much?” She mocked and rage filled Oliver, he didn’t like it when people made fun of him. 

“What are you doing here? And where is Barry Allen?” He took a step forward and then stopped when he heard someone walk towards him. He froze in place. 

“I’m right here,” He heard his partner say and when he turned around he found himself staring at Barry Allen dressed in black. Oliver almost instantly recognised the suit, it was the one they had crafted for Andrew. He remembered Cisco had joked about how Andrew was really lucky about having the same build as Barry Allen. 

 Oliver didn’t want to do anything at the moment because he knew something was wrong with Barry. He should be trying to fight Abdera. He shouldn’t be looking at her with a lazy smirk on his face as she practically strangled his friend. 

Barry would be looking guilty about not helping Cisco, not triumphant over the fact that they were cornered in a room were Oliver had nothing to defend himself or Cisco with. 

Something was definitely wrong with Barry Allen. 

“Bear?” He asked tentatively ignoring the fact that he had refused to call Barry by his nickname whenever they weren’t alone. 

Barry wasn’t unresponsive to his nickname, in fact, he reacted too rashly. His featured filled with disgust and anger flickered in his eyes. He didn’t say anything about it thought, and Oliver suddenly realised why people said that sometimes silence says a thousand words. 

At that moment, Oliver understood what Abdera and Andrea had done to Barry because the same kind of rage and hurt was the one that filled Slade’s eyes when they had encountered again. Oliver knew what a broken man looked like, and he was sure that Barry was far from okay. 

In the spur of the moment, and with rage giving him unmeasurable precision and speed  Oliver turned around, grabbed a pencil that had been laying on the table infant of his and there it towards Abdera, aiming for her eyes. He knew the damage that it could do to puncture someone’s eye. 

He never expected speed to be on Abdera’s side instead of him. 

In a flash, the pencil was out of the air, and it hadn’t even travelled a meter. He was suddenly being stared down by a furious looking Barry Allen. Eyes so dark they seemed black and expression so bitter and cold that Oliver couldn’t recognise the man that he had feelings for. He couldn’t recognise Barry Allen, and that tore him apart more than anything. 

“We only came here for the gear,” Barry threw the pencil into Oliver’s chest, it bounced harmlessly off him but and the sneer Barry gave him, like he hated Oliver more than everything he could have ever hated, was heart breaking, “you once said  that I would make a excellent villain, I decided to test out your theory.” 

Lighting moved fast, even for Barry, and in less time than Oliver’s brain could register he and Abdera were gone. Cisco looked at Oliver with fear in his eyes and then he was off, he brushed pass Oliver and into the place that they had called The Room of Heroes for more than two months now. 

Oliver stared at the mess left behind. All of the cases were thrown around the room and two of the six suits were missing. There was only one suit that was partially intact. It’s glass case was untouched but written across the pane was one horrifying message that Oliver couldn’t wrap his head around. 

The black marker looked appaling against the red of Barry’s suit and Barry’s phone seemed to be burning a hole on Oliver’s pants as he read the message. 

‘The Flash is Dead.’


	15. Immortals - Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lying has always been their speciality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics of this chapter:  
> 'Immortals' Fall Out Boy   
> 'Favourite Record' Fall Out Boy

> November 19, 2016

Oliver was more than just shocked. His arms and legs felt heavy like he couldn’t move them even if he wanted too. His brain hadn’t fully watched up to the situation that they were having in that moment. His lungs felt like they had been filled with acid and it was so hard to breathe that he considered trying to breathe faster. 

He looked at Cisco with wide eyes, but Cisco seemed to be in some trance. his eyes were fixated on the glass case that was marked by the nearly perfect handwriting. his eyes were rimmed with red and Oliver guessed that he didn’t look so different. 

He was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear the loud swearing coming from behind them. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t register the wheelchair that had rolled into the room and was now settled in front of them. 

Andrew had to grab Oliver and yank him down for Oliver to look at Andrew, for him to snap out of the numbness that had taken over him. Andrew looked at Oliver in the eyes and asked him one question, “What did they do?” 

If Oliver weren't so shocked, he would have answered something along the lines of ‘I don’t know, you tell me,  _Winters_.’ But Oliver was in shock, and Andrew looked so furious about everything that was happening that Oliver obliged to Andrew’s questioning eyes and answered, “Your sisters did something to Barry.” 

Anger like nothing Oliver had ever seen flared on his face. Andrew had barely known Barry, and Oliver was smart enough to recognise that he wasn’t only upset about his new friend being hurt. Andrew let Oliver go and then he ran a hand through his hair, “You do realise they just declared war on us.” 

 _A war in which friends fight against each other and siblings fight to the death._ Oliver thought.  _A war in which arrows and bullets have to be enough to fight against speed, shadows and memories._ “We have to gather our teams.” 

Oliver turned towards Cisco and grabbed his shoulder. Cisco finally looked away from the glass case. “What can I do to help?” 

“Andrew and I will call everyone; I need you to try and track them down.” Oliver ordered it didn’t take much for Cisco to leave the room and run into the cortex. Oliver gestured for Andrew to follow him. 

“They have an advantage over us,” Andrew commented. 

“Yeah, no shit.” 

“I mean it,’ Andrew said, “They have Barry. Barry knows how we work. Barry knows everything they need to know about S.T.A.R. Labs and what we can do here.” 

“Then we are even,” Oliver said as they got to his room, “They have him, we have you. Unless you turn out to be like your sister.” He pushed open the door, and Andrew followed him inside. 

“I told you I was out. I might have been in my sisters’ side in the beginning, but I’m not about that life.” 

Oliver grabbed the phone of his nightstand after a few seconds of looking around the room for it, “I have told my sister this many times. The only difference that heroes and villains have is that we don’t kill, and they do.” Oliver turned around and looked at Andrew. “So if you didn’t like that life, you wouldn't like this one.” 

He walked out of the room and up into the cortex again, Andrew followed him, “That’s not true. Heroes have a good motive to do what they do, and it’s generally motive good.” 

“Villains think their motives are correct.” Oliver argued. “It depends on society to decided which group’s motives are good and which are bad. we could just as easily be the villains as they could be the heroes.” 

“Look, Oliver,” Andrew said, “I know that I wasn’t the most honest person, but you will have to believe me when I say that I have left their team, and I will support you. I changed my point of view and maybe you should accept that and trust me instead of being a dick. Because I could easily leave this building and actually go and join my siblings and your boyfriend.” 

“Why does everyone _insist_  on calling Barry, my boyfriend?” 

“Why do you  _insist_ on changing the topic from things that make you uncomfortable?” 

Oliver just glared at Andrew and walked into the cortex were the reception on his phone was at it’s best. His fingers typed the message into Felicity’s chat and then to Thea’s, and he sent it without hesitation. ’S.O.S. Need you in the lab.’  

It was easy typing it for them. After all, it was them; they knew about Oliver and Barry being alive. They also knew about Barry being MIA. But Oliver couldn’t type the message with the rest of the teammates. He couldn’t do it knowing that when they got there, they would feel false hope about Barry being okay. He looked at Andrew that was looking at him with an expectant expression. Oliver gave in; he couldn’t do it, “If you want me to believe that you are actually part of our team start to prove it. Call everyone and tell them to come here. I need to do something important.” 

He tossed the cell phone to Andrew, and he caught it in mid-air and looked at Oliver weirdly but obliged to his orders. Oliver walked out of the room and walked down to his room. Barry’s phone was still resting against his thigh pressed there by the pocket in his pyjamas. 

He knew it was silly as hell. He was aware that he couldn’t possibly be calmed down by a phone or its contents, but he needed to try. he opened the door of his room and entered, closing it behind him and sitting down on his bed he took out the phone and looked at the lock screen. Now he knew what was the reason for Abdera to leave the phone behind. 

She did it to mock Oliver, to make Oliver realise that even if Barry was still alive, he wasn’t unharmed. She left it so that Oliver would see Barry’s smiling face on the picture and remember the sneer he had on his face today. 

Oliver knew Barry’s password, but he couldn’t bring himself to unlock the cell phone. He stood up and put it bellow his pillow, he would try to unlock it tonight if he had the chance to do it. 

He stood up and winced when he remembered the events of that morning. The buzz of the moment had drained, and Oliver now felt the pain of every cut and blister on his feet as he walked. He looked down and realised that the cuts were still oozing blood, and the blisters were starting to form around his feet. he sighed and made his way to the cortex. 

Oliver got everything he needed and sat on the medical bed where Caitlin usually fuzzed over Barry. Oliver first cleaned up the wounds and then applied a bandage over them, wrapping his foot with gauze so that he wouldn’t need to cut and arrange every single one of the cuts. He was done with bandaging both of his feet when he heard someone running towards the cortex. 

He and Cisco looked up at the same time and found themselves staring at a very flustered Iris West looking at Oliver like he was a ghost from the doorway. She gaped at him and had walked over to him in a few seconds. “Oh, my God. You’re alive.” 

Over the last few weeks, Iris and Oliver had developed an unusual friendship. Iris, who apparently got over her crush on Oliver once she saw Oliver look at Felicity. Suddenly Iris became the person that help Oliver with every single problem revolving around Felicity and him. Unusual, he knew, but a friendship anyway. A bond strong enough for Oliver to let Iris wrap her arms around his neck. 

When she pulled away Oliver noticed that she was crying, he thought that maybe it was from happiness until he saw the hurt look in her eyes. Andrew had told her about Barry. 

“What happened to him?” She inquired, “Your message was really vague. I bet everyone is worried out of their minds.” 

Oliver looked at her, and he felt the urge to lie to her. Maybe if he lied and told her a vague story about how Abdera had him as a hostage it would hurt less. But then he realised that if he lied when the moment came to face him, it would hurt her more, and she would probably despise Oliver because of lying to her. He sighed and finished bandaging the wound, then he started the story. 

When he was done Iris covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Oliver with horrified eyes, “So they somehow managed to convince him to join them?” 

Oliver shook his head, He didn’t want to believe that possibility, “I don’t think so. I think Andrea somehow messed with his head. She can do some serious damage with her abilities.” 

And that’s how the morning went. People from their teams arrived Oliver explained the situation, hopelessness settled into their features right along with sadness. Desperation took over everyone as they decided to do something about the situation and they discovered that every single thing they could do would be frustrated by Abdera, Andrea or Barry. 

Oliver was so tired that he had a headache, and his eyelids felt heavy, but he stayed with his team for a long time. Until Cisco told him to go get some sleep. he hadn’t slept in more than twenty-four hours, and they needed him above everyone else to be at his full potential. 

Without any argument, he stood up, said goodbye. Everyone kept talking after he was gone. Everyone kept making plans. 

His room was eery quiet and very empty. It was a room meant for two after all. Both beds were a mess, and Oliver didn’t care in which bed he slept in. Moments later he was asleep. He hadn’t noticed that he had chosen to sleep on the bed on the right side of the room instead of his side of the room. He didn’t care about to putting an alarm the next day, he was sure Cisco would wake him up when he was needed. 

Oliver Queen drifted off to sleep with the looming threat of failure serving him as company when his partner couldn’t. 

 

_-*-_

_Sometimes the only pay-off_

_for having any faith_

_Is when it's tested again and again_

_every day._

-*- 

“There is another option,” Cisco had offered. He felt sick for even considering it. His best friend was the one that would be put in danger if they did manage to pull this off. His best friend would be the one that would end up in a prison cell with no powers if they made it. “Do you remember when we were battling Zoom? He took away Barry’s powers by separating the speed force from his system.” 

“You want to separate Barry from his speed?” Joe asked. 

“We could totally pull it off. I mean we would need help, but it’s a plan that could work.” 

Caitlin looked at him, “We would need to give the speed to someone else. It would vanish into thin air otherwise. The Speed Force is not a stable substance and without a host, we wouldn’t have Speed to give back to Barry once he is back to being Barry.” 

“I would take it, but I can’t,” stated Andrew, “I’m already a meta-human, who knows what the hell it could do to my body if I tried to inject another power into me.” 

“And I won’t let Iris or Wally take it.” Joe argued before either of his children could speak, “I’m sorry but one of my sons has to deal with this kind of stuff, and he has just been affected greatly by it. I won’t let another one join the death parade.” 

“Thea can’t take it either,” Diggle added, “she’s an undead, who knows how she will react. And I won’t take it because my child is at risk. I don’t want her to be put more at danger that she already is.” 

“I can’t take it, I need to be here if something happens in the field, I'm the doctor.” said Caitlin, “Neither can Felicity or Cisco. We need Felicity as Overwatch and Cisco is already a metahuman.” 

“I can’t take it; I’m too old to be a speedster,” Joe added. 

Everyone seemed to realise that there was only one person in this cortex that could be a suitable host for Barry’s super-speed. It could even help them beat Abdera. But it was too much to hope, and Cisco knew it. 

“He won’t take it,” Felicity said, knowing what everyone was thinking about, “I’m not even sure if he would approve of taking Barry’s super-speed in the first place.” 

“Then what are we going to do?” Asked Thea, “Half of the people here can’t take the speed because they are metahumans or undead and the other half can’t because they don’t know how to defend themselves or are needed here in the cortex.” 

“I could be the host of the speed,” Wally argued. "So could Iris. But Joe won't let us help."

“No, you couldn’t,” Thea answered, “You don’t know how to be the Flash.” 

“Barry didn’t know how to be the Flash either, but he learned,” Iris said. 

“Barry’s first enemy was some idiot that he could take down in a few seconds if he were to come back to life. He was nothing compared to what we are facing right now.” Thea reminded him. Everyone knew Thea had a point so no one argued back, “Look, I know we would have to lie to a liar, but we need to do this without Oliver knowing about it.” 

“Last time we tried to do something without Barry we failed,” Joe commented, “We  _need_  Oliver’s support. Therefore, we need his approval.” 

Andrew was the one who spoke next, “No we don’t. Well, we do need Oliver’s support because he is the most experimented one on the team, but we don’t need his approval to do this, and he doesn’t need to know about what we are doing.” 

“Then how are we going to get his support if he doesn’t know what he has to do?” Diggle asked. 

“We trick him,” Andrew stated simply, “we make up some fake plan that follows what we are going to do without actually revealing it, and we trick him into doing what we need him to do. Then when he manages to do that, he has Barry’s speed, and Barry has been safely tucked away in a cell we tell him what we did.” 

Felicity looked at him with a neutral expression, “You want to use him.” 

Andrew pursed his lips and nodded. He looked terribly guilty and like he had said something horrible but everyone in the room looked like they were considering his plan. 

It wasn’t a pretty plan or something that Oliver would appreciate a lot, but it was a plan. A plan much more rational than everything that they had come up with that night. 

“My brother is going to be pissed as hell when he finds out,” Thea commented. 

“I think that’s something everyone is willing to endure as long as we get to save many lives,” Andrew said. 

“So are we going to carry this plan out?” Cisco asked. 

"I'm in man. Just tell me what to do." Andrew answered immediately. 

The room was silent and for a second Cisco thought that maybe they had stepped a line. 

“I will,” Joe said, “I will make this happen as long as my kid is safe and the cities are saved.” 

Another long silence, “I’m with Cisco.” 

One by one people started to agree with his plan, and Cisco wished they didn’t. His blood run cold when he saw that there was only one person left to accept. Felicity looked dizzy and sick; she looked like she didn't want to do any of the things they had planned. Cisco knew they needed to decide fast. 

“We all need to agree, Felicity.” 

She looked up and met Ciscos eyes; she looked so scared and so regretful, but Felicity was a person of duty, she knew what she had to do, “I’m in.” 

 

-*-

_And I can’t, I can’t,_

_I can’t remember_

_Just how to forget,_

_-*-_

 

Barry was leaning on the railing like he had been the day before when Lyla had tried to make small talk to him. She had talked to him like she didn’t have a clue of what she had caused to him. She had suggested for him to keep the name of the Flash, the thing that had caused his pain, instead of moving on. If Barry had hated Lyla Michaels before, he hated her a lot more now. 

Still, he felt something about her that had thrown him off. She actually didn’t seem to remember what she did. Had Andrea somehow altered her memory as a test? As a way of seeing how long Barry could talk to her without wanting to snap her neck? 

He felt the door to the balcony open, and he ignored it. If they wanted to talk to him, they would have to speak first. Otherwise, they wouldn’t get a word from him. 

“What are you thinking about?” 

Damn it; he really didn’t want to talk, “Stuff that you is none of your business.”   There, that should shut her up. 

“Damn,” Andrea mused, “no need to be so rude.” 

“Well, I don’t feel like talking so I thought being rude would give you that hint.” 

He could feel Andrea shift beside him, probably uncomfortable or hurt. He didn’t care, he just didn’t want to talk. But she insisted on talking to him, “Is something bothering you?” 

“Apart from you insisting on talking to me; there _is_  something that is bothering me.” 

“And that would be?” Andrea asked. 

She was really getting on his nerves, and if she wouldn’t shut up with him being rude then he guessed he must tell her to get her to shut up, “Lyla Michaels came the other day, but she didn’t seem to remember what she did to me. Then last night Oliver Queen called me Bear, like he didn’t remember that he was supposed to hate me. They are acting like they don’t remember what they did to me, would you mind explaining why?” 

Cold, sharp pain shot through his spine and into his brain. One second he remembered Lyla and Oliver not knowing what they had done and the next second he remembered them looking at him with rage filled expressions and sadness. Then the sharp pain eased, and he couldn’t remember that he had been bitter or angry. 

He turned to Andrea, looking at her, expecting her to keep telling him what they were going to do when the tomorrow after sunset. Andrea cleared her throat, “-And you’ll have to kill him.” 

Barry grimaced, “Isn’t it stupid to start killing people? I mean, it will only fill them with determination.” 

“They will be fighting against speed, shadows and memories. They won’t stand a chance, even if they are determined to win.” Andrea pointed out, “So, are you in?” 

“I’ll do it,” Barry assured her, “I will kill him.”

 


	16. Fix You - Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When they get to earth-2 to get some help from Harrison Wells and Jesse, there is a not so pleasant surprise waiting for one of them.   
> Meanwhile, Cisco realises that they all have an extraordinary ability to fuck things up. Especially since they all have the ability to lie and deceive as easily as they could breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics mentioned in this chapter are from the song 'Fix You' by Coldplay. I wrote this chapter with two songs playing thought. 'Fix you' and 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun', the Glee cast version, it's sad and angsty, just like this chapter. I hope you like it and I hope you like the characters that are going to appear on this chapter.

> November 20, 2016

 

If Oliver could describe Barry Allen in a song, he would have to describe him as Sweet Caroline. Not only did he seem to be as cheerful as the song but just as the song said, good times with him seemed to be as good as they could get. Or so it had been, until Barry had been changed by Andrea and her mind tricks. Now Barry was wrecking everything in his wake with no real reason to do so. 

Oliver watched the video once again, looking for clues that this was not really Barry Allen, but that was something that Oliver hadn’t managed to accomplish. He walked just like Barry, he had the same powers as Barry, and when he looked up at the camera and _smirked_ Oliver had to believe this was Barry Allen. 

That didn’t stop Oliver from going over the video many times as Cisco got ready to jump from this earth into earth-2. Oliver was going to go with Cisco for protection. ‘ _Who knows what dangers earth-2 has for us_?’ Cisco had said. 

Oliver obliged immediately if he didn’t go then Thea would. He didn’t want his sister heading into a different earth in which they didn’t know what kind of villain they would be facing, if there even was one. Oliver was content with making Thea face known threats. 

As far as Oliver was concerned, he would have forced Cisco to stay behind if he could. But Oliver wasn’t Barry, and, couldn’t run at the speed of light, or vibrated at the same frequency of earth-2, if he attempted to jump without Cisco he would most defiantly fail.   
“It seems so surreal,” he heard someone say beside him. 

He paused the video and faced Andrew, “What seems surreal?” 

“That Barry Allen is doing all of this.” Andrew said as he gestured to the screen. 

Oliver sighed and looked at the screen where Barry was frozen a stick of his hand, only a few centimetres away from busting the window on a car. _I can’t believe it either._ “Can you believe that the last thing I said to him was ‘ _Whatever Barry’_? I think I now understand why my mother insisted on saying Goodbye overtime we were going to get separated.” 

“He is going to come back to normal Oliver.” Andrew assured him. 

If he was being honest Oliver felt hopeless, how was he going to get Barry back from something the defined you as a person? “You don’t know that.” 

Andrew smiled, “You are right, I don’t, but I do know that words have power.” 

Oliver was about to call bullshit when he felt a strong pressure rush into the room. His ears popped, and he looked at the place where Cisco had been trying to open the portal. Shining in full glory was a bright blue vortex that looked like something Oliver did _not_ want to jump through. 

“Oliver,” Cisco called, “Are you ready?” 

Oliver stood up and grimaced, grabbing the gun that Cisco had handed him and putting on one of the pockets in his navy blue coat, “As ready as I can be.” 

“Okay man I have to warn you that you are not alive on this other earth, showing your face in public will not be a good idea, so try to stay away from windows and other people that aren’t me, Harry or Jesse.” 

Oliver felt his throat clench the thought of being dead was… discomforting, “Go it Cisco. Are you positive the Harrison Wells is free right now?” 

Cisco grinned, “Don’t worry, I checked it before I opened the portal.” 

Oliver felt Cisco grab his arm, and Cisco counted down to three before they both jumped through the portal. It felt like someone dumped a bucket of cold water on Oliver’s head. He felt dizzy and full of energy when their feet touched the ground again, and Oliver looked around the office they had landed in. There was no one, but judging by the structure of the room Oliver guess they were back at the cortex, but in another earth. 

There was no one in the room so Oliver looked at Cisco and asked, “Cisco are you sure that Wells was here?” 

“Well, that’s what I saw five minutes ago.” Cisco said. 

Oliver had to take a deep breath, “Are you sure that time here doesn’t pass at at a different speed from our earth’s time?”

“Harry and I calculated that it only had a minimum difference, for every second in our earth five seconds pass here.” 

Oliver wasn’t as smart in maths and science like Barry or Cisco were, but Cisco had been too carried away by the excitement of the moment and had ignored a crucial detail, “Cisco what you saw on our earth happened twenty-five minutes go _here._ ” 

Cisco didn’t get the chance to argue because at that moment footsteps were heard from down the hall, and they was more than one person walking down towards the cortex. In a panic Oliver looked for somewhere to hide, he looked around the cortex and cursed at the thing for being round, with glass walls and organised in a way in which you could see everything from the entrance of the room. He had to give the man some credit, this arrangement was very smart. 

He brace for the shocked faces and the amount of explanation and lies they would have to conjure up for when the people that were going to enter the room came face to face with a _dead man._  

Olive could make out some voices, but they were blocked by the thick walls and the whirring of different machines. He could hear a laugh that he could recognise everywhere, and his bones froze to the core, and he heard Cisco whisper something dirty enough to make anyone want to wash his mouth with soap. Oliver knew Thea was going to walk into the room at any moment, what Oliver didn’t know was that she would be followed by her father, and he was not talking about Malcolm Merlyn. 

Robert Queen was standing in the doorway frozen in shock as Oliver tried to regain control over his paralysed limbs. As if the surprise of seeing his supposedly dead father wasn’t enough Barry Allen stumbled into the room a few seconds later still laughing about whatever Thea had said. Then Harrison Wells walked into the room, and Oliver wondered if any more of the people he thought that were either dead or had turned into bad guys would waltz into the room at that moment. 

He heard Harrison Wells sigh in the background, “Well, this are the joys of people turing up unannounced.” Oliver tried to pay attention to what Wells said, he really did, but his words were lost in the haze of the moment. It was all lost, playing as background noise, and at that moment nothing else mattered. It didn’t matter that his cursed partner was standing beside his father because it was his _father_ standing there. 

But in a blur of movement his father was no longer standing there. He was passing Harrison Wells against a wall and looking at him with so much rage that Oliver couldn’t believe that was his father.

“What kind of sick joke is this Harrison?” His father demanded, “Why is my son, the one that I had to burry myself, standing on the middle of your cortex?” 

“Let my father go, Queen,” Jesse demanded, “We had nothing to do with this.” 

If Oliver weren't frozen in place he would have moved to help Harrison Wells, but his legs seemed to have stopped working, and his brain seemed to have turned into a pile of goo inside of him. 

“He is right,” Oliver heard Cisco say, “This is not his fault. We came here without announcing ourselves.” 

“My son is buried on an island in the North China Sea,” his father said, “he can’t just turn up on Central City after ten years of being dead.”

“ _Your_ son is buried on Lian Yu,” Cisco tried to reason with Robert, “This Oliver is someone completely different because we come from another earth.” 

Robert’s grip on Harrison loosened, “What are you talking about?” 

“Mr. Ramon is talking about his powers,” Wells tried to explain, “he is a metahuman that can jump and see through the multiverse and time. They came here from another earth in which you aren’t the Green Arrow, you are dead, and your son was the one who had to endure Lian Yu.” 

Robert released Wells and eyed him suspiciously but before anyone could say anything else Barry, or Barry from this earth, spoke up, “Cisco It's good seeing you here but why _are_ you here?” He asked, “Is everyone okay?” 

“No,” Oliver stated and he could feel his father’s burning stare on the side of his head, “we came here for your help. We have problems, big problems.” 

Barry smiled nervously, Oliver made a mental note to ask Barry if he needed any glasses, and if so he needed to see them. _Because he is going to be back to normal,_ “Nothing can be worse than Zoom, right?” 

“Apparently, it can be,” Oliver said, words tasting bitter on his mouth, “there is a new speedster in town, causing a lot of trouble.” 

“Do you want help with the tachyon enhancement device? Because if you do I will need for Barry to be here.” Jesse offered. 

“Barry is the speedster causing trouble,” Oliver said, his voice in a much lower volume than he had intended it to be. 

Jesse’s expression changed from happy to see Cisco to confused as hell in a matter of milliseconds, “What do you mean?” 

Cisco sighed, “New villain in town. She has the ability to control memory and she changed Barry’s memory. Now he thinks he is some kind of more chaotic, less blood thirsty Zoom.” 

“And you want our help because I was able to find a way to take away Barry Allen’s speed before.” Said Wells, looking at Cusco and Oliver with questioning eyes, “Anything else you want me to do? Bring you the moon and some stars maybe? I have a great variety of stellar bodies you can choose from, pulsars, black hole, planets.” 

“Look, Wells, you have done it before to get Jesse back,” Cisco complained, “I don’t see why you can’t do it now.” 

“Because I like the kid now, and there are so many other options that you could come up with,” He strode over to his desk and started to fiddle with some papers that surely weren’t important, but it made it seem like the conversation was over. 

“Oh yes,” Cisco said sarcastically. Oliver had never seen Cisco angry, he had to admit it was very unnerving, “we should totally head back to our earth and try to formulate another plan while a psychopath is leading an army which is destined to kill not only Central but also Star city. Not to mention that the only person who could have probably helped Oliver in the fight is now part of the enemy.

Would you like to have a screen fixed up so that you can watch the destruction of both cities with your friends? I don’t know maybe we could bring some popcorn and blankets and prepare for the show.” 

“Ramon calm down,” Wells pleaded, but Cisco only glared at him even harder. If looks could kill Harrison Wells would have been declared dead at that moment. 

“I’m not going to calm down. Our cities are at risk,” Cisco gestured between Himself and Oliver, “Our teams are in danger,” He pointed at Oliver and himself again, ”and my best friend was turned into a ragging psychopath by a person that can change memory. Then I come here for help, and you tell me that you would take away Barry’s speed for Jesse, but you wouldn’t take it away to save Barry’s life and save both of the cities. Calling down is not something I will be doing any sooner.” 

Wells looked at Cisco with an unreadable expression and then he sighed, “Fine, I will do it.” 

Cisco let a relieved smile take over his features. 

“But if Barry Allen or anyone on the team gets hurt I will make sure that you get a taste of your own medicine, Ramon.” 

Oliver had to get out of the room immediately. Not only was the tension in the room palpable but he didn’t think he would be able to handle his father’s stare any longer. He turned to Cisco, “Is this version of S.T.A.R. labs similar to the one on our earth?” 

“Exactly the same,” Answered Wells, and Oliver looked around the room. 

“I’ll we back in a few minutes,” Oliver stated, not wanting to have to explain himself. In a few strides his out of the room and he is really thankful that the doorway is wide, he didn’t think he would be able to stand contact with his father. 

He was only halfway down the corridor that lead to the bathroom when he couldn’t take it anymore. The tears he had been trying to hold back now spilled down his cheeks, and he had to blink them away so that he could walk down to the bathroom. 

When he got there, he shrugged his coat off and placed it on the sink. He didn’t care if it got wet, he just needed some breathing space that the coat didn’t give him. He needed to get a hold of himself, and he was managing to do that in a surprising amount of time when he looked up at the mirror that was hanging on the wall, and he saw that he wasn’t the only person in the bathroom. 

And the person that was standing there looking at Oliver with misty eyes wasn’t someone that was helping his current state.

He had never thought that he would see his father again. Not standing there looking at Oliver with loving and, but eyes full of restraint and sadness too. Oliver turned around to face Robert Queen and his pain inducing eyes. 

They both stayed silent for more than a minute. Oliver didn’t doubt that his eyes were puffy and red, or that his father had noticed how much Oliver’s hands were twitching by his side, just like Robert’s hands were twitching against his chest. 

It was Robert who finally gave in, his bowed his head and spoke like he was talking to a wounded animal, “You died on the lifeboat. I wanted to let you live, I wanted to tell you to keep going so that you would fix my mistakes but when I tried to wake you up I couldn’t. For a day I pretended that you were sleeping, until I decided the face my fears and I took your pulse. There was nothing there.” 

Oliver closed his eyes and pictured the scene. He would have died in that lifeboat if it wasn’t for the fact that he had told himself that his father had died to keep hi alive. Dying there would be making his father’s death a waste of life. “You got to pull the trigger.” Oliver told his father. “You put a bullet through your brain and after you told me to live, Told me to stay strong and fix your mistakes.” 

Oliver’s eyes were closed and he hadn’t realised that his father was standing in front of him until he felt his firm hand on his shoulder. His father was still taller than Oliver, he had always been and it had been comforting. “We have been through a lot, son.” His father said. “I understand what you have faced, but you can’t let this situation you are in bring you down. You’re the Green Arrow after all.” 

Oliver opened his eyes and looked put to his father. He hadn’t realised how much Oliver still missed his father until this moment. It had been ten years and Oliver still missed his old man. “It’s been a lot to take in this last couple of months. Then my partner is taken away and I will have to fight against him in a fight that will most likely end in death or something worse.” 

Oliver had never been one to like hugging or any kind of physical demonstration of affection. But when his father’s arms wrapped around him Oliver leant into the touch. Arms clutching his father’s shirt for support. 

He knew this wasn’t really his father, and he was pretty sure that this Robert Queen knew that Oliver wasn’t his son, but at that moment neither of them seemed to care. Especially Oliver, because in those minutes that they hugged he was finally able to get his mind of the thousands of other things that were troubling at that moment.

His only concern at that moment was that he would miss his dad a lot more now that he could pretend he had a father. 

 

-*- 

When the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

-*-

 

“-after all of this is done we will inject Barry’s speed into Oliver’s system so that the speed force will have a host until we have a way to return Barry back to normal.” Cisco finished explaining. 

“Maybe Jesse can conjure up some theories on how she changed his memories and how we can get him back,” Harry suggested. “In the meanwhile, I would have to run some tests on Mr. Queen so that we can have the general idea of how is cells will react to the speed force.” 

Cisco grimaced, and Harry was quick to notice the expression, “You haven’t told Mr. Queen that he was going to be the host of the speed.” 

Cisco shook his head, “I was a miracle he even agreed on letting us take Barry’s speed. He won’t agree to be the host, much less us it.” 

“So what we would do would be practically useless,” Harry said. 

“No, it wouldn’t,” Cisco objected, “we would be able to take Barry’s speed away and lock him up.” 

“But you would also have a furious Oliver Queen and a useless speedster.” 

Cisco sighed, “We don’t care about that. Oliver will come to his senses after a while of having Barry’s powers, and he will start to use them to help us.” 

Harry looked at Cisco with cold blue eyes, “Ramon you are such an idiot. You all are.” He rubbed his forehead and looked at Cisco with a murderous look. “Didn’t you learn that you can’t do things without consulting or getting help from your heroes. Wasn’t Joe nearly dying a good enough reason to learn that you have to have the heroes’ consent for things to work?” 

“We can kick ass without Barry and Oliver,” Cisco said. 

“No Cisco, you can’t. You want to know why? Because you can’t work without the most important part of your team. You are the brains, the heart and the healing mechanism of the team but without Barry or Oliver, you are a like a paralysed person. You can’t do anything. 

Just like Oliver and Barry can’t function without their teams. Yes, they are the heroes and yes, they are the ones that make everything possible, but without their teams they are nothing. They have no brain, no heart and no way to defend themselves against villains.

That’s why you have teams. Because when you don’t have all of the parts of the team you fail. You can’t work alone. I don’t mean to sound like some kind of broken record, but if you want to get far, you need to do it as a team.” 

“So what should I do?” Cisco asked. “Put the cities at risk just so that Oliver can give us the thumbs up?” 

“That’s exactly what I want you to do.” Harry put down the device he was working on. “I won’t move a finger until I have Mr Queen’s thumbs up.” 

Cisco was left in the room alone, looking at the unfinished device that would be strapped to an arrow. It’s not like he had much choice. They needed Harry’s help, so he needed to get Oliver’s approval. 

He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. Why had he thought that lying was a good idea in the first place? 


	17. Hall of Fame - Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start going downhill for everyone.   
> Cisco and Oliver have to leave earth-2 without saying goodbye.  
> Barry and Abdera have a fight.   
> Joe has a very bad feeling about the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics used in the chapter:
> 
> 'Hall of Fame' The Script   
> 'Without You' Glee Cast Version   
> 'LA Devotee' Panic! At The Disco

> November 20, 2016

 

When Harry had told Cisco that all of the others were in the other room talking he never actually thought that it would be Oliver talking and telling the stories. At that moment Oliver Queen looked like another person, he didn’t have that permanent weight he seemed to always have when they were back on their earth. 

“-So Barry being the cocky little shit he is told me that I wouldn’t be able to shoot him. He was right, I didn’t hurt him with my bow, but I had two crossbows installed on the ground and that time I did strike him, twice. You should have seen his face. He’s still not over it.” 

“So you are telling me that is the real Barry Allen?” He heard earth-2 Barry ask, “When he came here he seemed so serious I thought the only thing we had in common were the looks.” 

Cisco walked into the room at that moment. They were all leaning against the wall of the room with a cup of coffee on their hands exchanging stories about God knows what. Cisco felt guilty just by seeing he would have to ask for Oliver to come out of the room, he would have to ask for Oliver to get out of the room that had his father and friend who Cisco doubted he would ever see again. 

Oliver was chuckling when Cisco cleared his throat. Oliver turned to look at him, blue eyes scanning Cisco in an unnerving way. “Oliver I need you in the cortex.” 

Oliver sent the cup down on the coffee table beside him and walked towards Cisco, “Of course, I’m sorry.” 

Cisco glanced back to the people in the room with an apologetic glance before exiting the room, followed by Oliver. Cisco realised that the weight on Oliver’s shoulders seemed to be non-existent. Cisco had to prepare to put it back again on his shoulders, “We haven’t been honest with you.” 

Oliver sighed, running a hand through his hair and turned around to face Cisco. He didn’t look mad at all, “I’m not surprised, honesty isn’t our speciality.” 

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Cisco said. “But in all seriousness, this is something very important about Barry’s plan.” 

Oliver tensed up and looked at Cisco with suspicious eyes, “You weren’t planning on killing him, right?” 

“No,” Cisco said, “He is my best friend, I would be the first one to veto the idea.” Cisco inhaled deeply, “But we had another idea which was just as dangerous.” 

“And you didn’t tell me about because you were all afraid I would veto that idea.” 

“Exactly.” 

“Cisco, please don’t tell me we came here as a distraction,” Oliver pleaded, “Please tell me we didn’t come here so that they would all carry the plan out because I’m not eager to go to my friends’ funeral party.” 

Cisco shook his head, if he was honest with himself, he didn’t expect Oliver to be so chill with this matter, “You know the first part of our plan, just not the one that involves you.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“The speed force is not a stable substance, without a host, the speed will vanish into thin air and if we do find a way to heal Barry we wouldn’t be able to give Barry his speed,” Cisco explained. 

“So you were going to use me as a host until Barry is back to normal.” Oliver interrupted. 

Cisco nodded, “Basically.” 

Oliver took a deep breath. “Cisco you should have told me earlier. Taking away Barry’s speed is a fantastic idea, but you can’t do it without me. Thea is a good archer, but she has never fought against Barry, she has never tried to shoot a speedster, she wouldn’t be able to help you, even if she wanted.” 

“I know,” Cisco said, “that’s why I’m telling you,” _not really I just need Harry’s help_ , “I realised that we needed your thumbs up to carry this out. I needed to know if you were willing to take Barry speed and use it against Abdera.” 

Oliver ran his hands through his hair, “He is going to kill me. If guilt doesn’t do that first.” 

“So is that a yes?” Cisco asked hopefully. 

Oliver glared at him, and he had to bite his lip so that he wouldn’t flinch. “If I come up with a better plan this is over. I will not hurt Barry.” 

“Is that it?” Cisco asked. “Did you honestly say yes this quickly?” 

Oliver rolled his eyes, “This is exactly why you should have told me in the first place, Cisco. Sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to win.” 

 

-*-

You can go the distance

You can run the mile

You can walk straight through hell with a smile

_-*-_

 

If Oliver was honest with himself, he had just agreed to Cisco’s plan to make a point, they needed to trust Oliver more than they trusted him. Not because he was particularly eager to make this happen. Actually, as Cisco and Wells ran, what seemed thousands, of test on him Oliver could only think about ways in which he could defeat Barry without having to take away his speed and injecting it into _his_ system. 

He was so desperate to find a solution that didn’t involve taking something precious from Barry that he actually thought that calling Malcolm Merlyn would be a good idea. He quickly vetoed the idea when he remembered the many problems the League of Assassins had brought. Especially Malcolm. 

He was snapped out of his stance when Cisco told him that they would need to see if Oliver’s body would stand the speed. Oliver’s eyes snapped to the syringe filled with red liquid that Cisco was holding out to him. “What is that?” 

“Velocity 9,”  Wells answered, “liquid speed.” 

Cisco nodded, “It will only last for an hour, but it will be enough for us to see if your body is suitable for speed.” 

“Didn’t Barry say something about liquid speed being extremely dangerous? Something along the lines of ‘the last person who tried to use Velocity 9 ended addicted to it and vanished into thin air when she started to run very fast’.” 

“That was an earlier version of the V9,” Wells said. “Besides, she was an unstable person.” 

Oliver took the syringe on his hand and inspected it, “So this will give me Barry’s speed?” 

Wells shook his head, “Mr Allen’s speed is something that we can’t recreate. You will be getting a taste of his speed. That is roughly one eighth of what Mr Allen has.” 

Oliver sighed and extended his arm. Cisco and Wells had been fiddling with him before and had taken off his shirt, leaving space for making tests and what not. He looked at his arm and once he spotted the vein that he was looking for he plunged the syringe in. 

“If I go crazy I swear to god I will kill you both.” He said before injecting the red liquid into his system. Overwhelmed by the sensation of it Oliver closed his eyes and shook his head. He took the syringe out and opened his eyes. 

Oliver felt his heart speed up and energy like nothing he had ever felt rush into his system. He gasped when the sensation reached its peak. 

“Are you okay?” Cisco asked, concern clouding his features. 

Oliver rolled his shoulders and looked at Cisco, “Now I understand why Barry hated not having his speed.” 

“Mr Queen I would really like to stay and chat, but we have work to do. I really need to get back to what your father is here for.” Wells urged. They went down into the storage room on the labs and Cisco was explaining how he had to run around the labs as fast as he could. 

Fast was an understatement. 

Running like this was something that just couldn’t be described with words. Adrenaline rushed through your veins, and wind cooled you off. Oliver felt like he was electricity like he could disintegrate at any moment because he was moving so fast. According to Cisco, Oliver had ran around the room in less than a second, for him, it was something mind blowing, “And you are saying that’s only a fraction of the speed Barry can reach?” 

Cisco nodded, “This is a safe version of the V9, you can only get to 190 miles per hour. Barry’s maximum speed right now is a little above Mach 2, that is two times the speed of sound.” 

“And how fast is that?”

“1522 miles per hour,” Cisco said as he fiddled with the tablet. He said it as if it was so kind of thing that Oliver should get his head around like he should be okay with running that fast. 

Oliver felt breathless. A few minutes before Wells had left the room to go and help Robert Queen with what he needed, he was really glad he had, Oliver was not eager about showing Wells that he was _terrified_ of the speed that Barry could go. 

“You are kidding me, right?” Oliver asked breathlessly. 

“And that’s without the tachyon enhancement device. He can run at Mach 5 with that thing.” Cisco finished toying with the diagram he was making at looked at Oliver with a grin on his face, “Cool, isn’t it?” 

Oliver swallowed, “Yeah, totally.” 

Cisco put his hand on Oliver’s shoulder, and Oliver was to shocked to do anything. “The effects of the V9 should be over by the time that we go back to our earth. Then you will have the full power of the speed force once we take Barry down.” 

 _Oh joy,_ Oliver thought. Cisco lifted his hand from Oliver’s shoulder and headed towards the cortex. Oliver was left shirtless and with unbelievable speed in some storage room in another earth. Boy, did he need to come up with a better plan, and fast. 

After a few moments of thinking, he realised that he wasn’t scared of speed. He was scared of damaging something that belonged to Barry. He now knew why Barry treasured being the Flash so much, why he liked running so much and why he always insisted on doing things with his super speed. 

Oliver didn’t want to steal that away from Barry, much less damage it, and that would be happening if Oliver wasn’t careful enough. He turned around and walked towards the cortex, back to his clothes and to the place where he would be submitted to thousands of other things to test that he could control and host the speed force. He knew it was very selfish to wish that he wouldn’t be able to host the speed force, that they couldn’t take away Barry’s powers because there wasn’t a suitable host for them. 

Maybe he should just tell Cisco that he wouldn’t do this. That he would take away Barry’s speed, much less host it. That they would have to find another way to fight him because there was _always_ another way. 

But would Barry forgive him if he let him do something that he would regret? 

Would he forgive him for not stopping him when he had the chance? 

Most importantly, would Oliver forgive himself if Barry was taken apart by something he did under the influence of another person? 

The answer was no. And yes, it would tear Oliver apart to steal Barry’s most precious belonging, but this was war. He had said it himself, you have to do whatever it takes to win. Even if that decision tears you apart. 

Minutes later Cisco and Oliver get called back to earth-1, and they have to leave in such a hurry that Oliver can't say goodbye to his father. 

_Attack from Barry on Central City bank. 15 officers injured beyond saving. Two million dollars missing. Oliver, we need you back here ASAP._

-*-

_I can't win, I can't reign_

_I will never win this game_

_Without you_

_-*-_

 

“You want to do what?” He asked incredulously. The apartment went mute, Andrea and Abdera stopped arguing and looked at Barry with surprised faces. 

Okay, he had agreed on killing a person to throw Oliver’s team off balance, or fifteen officers so that he could rob a bank, but what Abdera was proposing was absolute nonsense. There was a difference between killing one man and killing two million people. 

“We will kill a third of the population in Star and Central City.” Abider clarified though Barry didn’t need it. “Two million hundred thousand people will die by the end of the month Barry, you better be prepared to kill.”

“Thank you for the clarification, I didn’t need it.” Barry snapped. “What I do need is a reasonable explanation for killing two million people.” 

“Well, that depends on what you want to do.” Abdera said, “Cause enough panic to rob all the banks in both cities. To see misery and destruction. A personal vendetta against everyone in the city. All of those sound like reasonable explanations.” 

“No, they’re not!” Barry said, horrified. “Look, there is a difference between vengeance and nonsense. I think it’s pretty clear which path you are taking.” 

“We could be doing worse things,”  Abdera argued. “We lost everything because of this cities. It’s reasonable to feel this way.” 

“No, it’s not,” Barry screamed. “You are both crazy.” 

“Our family died. The love of our lives died. We were forced to sit in an insane asylum for six months because they thought we were unstable.” She screamed back, she listed all of the reasons trying to convince Barry that it was something that an average person would do. 

“Cool motive,” Barry stated coldly, “it’s still murder. Mass murder. I won’t be part of that. I'm sorry, Hitler.” 

Barry turned around, he could feel puke rising up from his stomach. Two million people would be dead if he didn’t do anything. If he didn’t warn Oliver and his team. Maybe after this he could start a club of villains turned good, and invite Andrew, Hartley, Snart and Woodward to a tea party. 

“If you take one more step, I will not only kill two million people but the six and a half million people in these stupid cities,” Abdera warned him. “You warn or help the other team, and I will kill the six million people. You do anything that goes against my others, and there will be no cities to help. I will let you rot in guilt and regret everything you ever did to anger me.” 

Barry turned well he saw Andrea move, he used his super speed to pin Andrea to the wall hand around her throat, choking her. Abdera radiated anger as her sister started to splutter and cough. 

“You might change my memory, you might threaten to kill the city, you might do whatever the fuck you want to do with me, but I will never be on your side.” He whispered angrily, he didn’t care about Abdera attacking him at that moment, he just needed to make things clear. “I will listen to your speeches. I will stand by your side when you take over the city entirely. I will stand with one foot on top of Oliver Queen’s dead body and smile radiantly as I do. But don’t for one-second think that I will not let you two die the moment I have the chance.” 

“Barry let her go,” Abdera demanded, but there was fear in her voice. She knew that she might cause a lot of pain to Barry, but that would never replace her sister if Barry were to kill her at that moment. 

“Don’t think I will not kill you the moment I have the chance.” 

Barry’s hand tightened around her neck and Andrea started to turn purple. 

“Barry, _let her go,_ ” Abdera screamed. 

He obliged, only because God knows what she would do to his city if he didn’t. He turned around and looked at Abdera, who had tears running down her face. “Next time I won’t let go.” 

“You’re a monster!” She screamed. 

“Says the woman who wants to kill two million people.” 

“That’s different!” 

“Oh yes?” Barry asked, “How is it any different?” 

He walked towards the door and was about to open it when he heard Abdera, “At least I won’t be killing the person I once called my best friend.” 

Barry froze in his tracks. He felt as tense as a bowstring, that had been low. Abdera was right, but Barry wasn’t backing out of something he had already prepared for. He didn’t even bother to turn around as he yanked the door open. 

  
“Maybe we are different kinds of psychopaths.” 

 

-*- 

_You got two black eyes_

_from loving too hard_

_And a black car_

_that matches your blackest soul_

-*- 

“-if we do manage to lure Barry into the room Thea and Diggle will be waiting for him. You can’t take him down, but you can distract him. Shoot at him makes it impossible for him to concentrate and then I’m going to be the one that shoots the arrow full of the nanobots carrying the reverse serum. Barry will try to phase the substance out of his system but that will only activate the nanobots, and we will be able to take the speed out of his system.” Oliver turned to Thea and Diggle. “You need to protect me. I will be vulnerable while the speed is being transferred and he will try to kill you both, he is a good fighter, but he will not be able to fight you both. Not without super speed. 

Andrew, I need you to distract Andrea and Abdera while we are trying to lure Barry into our trap. I know that your sisters won’t do anything to you. You have my full permission to do whatever you have to do to keep them away from the rest of us, you know how dangerous they can be. 

Cisco and Felicity I need you to be in control of the labs. Lock us up if you need it, make sure that Barry’s escape is as slow as it can be. I don’t care that we are inside of a building with a murderous speedster, we need to make his escape nearly impossible so that we have the chance to shoot him with the reverse serum if something goes wrong. 

Joe and Caitlin, I need you to take care of the cell, as soon as Barry is inside the cell. We don’t know if the sped exchange will work entirely so once he is inside the cell I need you to start the cooling of the cell. The cell will reach extreme temperatures according to Cisco so we have literally two minutes to test if the thing worked. 

We need to be fast, and we can’t forget that this Barry is not our Barry. No matter how much he looks or acts like him, Andrea and Abdera changed him. We need to treat him like an enemy at all times, trusting him is a risk we can’t take.” 

“Are you sure that your plan to draw them out will work?” Joe asked. 

Cisco groaned and put his head in his hands. Cisco the bait, “I really don’t like this idea.” 

“Me neither,” Joe agreed, “I have a bad feeling about using Cisco as bait.” 

“I could be the bait,” Iris offered, and Joe looked about to object when she kept talking, “Look I know that Cisco has to be here. I know that if you don’t get here fast enough, you will probably put the plan at risk so I say I need to go.” 

“I won’t stay here like an idiot while you do the rest of the work,” Wally complained. “So why don’t we, Barry’s siblings, lure him out and bring him here.” 

“Absolutely not.” Joe said. 

“I’m doing it,” Iris said, “Look, dad, I know that you love us and that you don’t want to lose your children, but we won’t sit around waiting for things to go wrong enough for you to let us do something.”

“Iris-“ 

“Cisco you are going to stay here and do your job, Wally and I will lure Barry out of his hiding place.” 

“Iris!” 

“We are not little kids anymore. You can’t keep trying to protect us, not when the three of us live this life. Not when your oldest is the Flash and Wally, and I are part of Team Flash.” 

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to protect you! The three of you are in great danger every single day, and you want to go and risk your life further on? Besides we don’t know what Andrea made to Barry, I wouldn’t appreciate going to one of my children's’ funeral knowing the killer is my son.” 

Iris glared at Joe and grabbed the keys from the car that Cisco was going to be using. The fastest car they could get, it regardless of the speed it wouldn’t be able to beat Barry, but it would sure as hell be able to get Iris and Wally from the place were they were heading to S.T.A.R. labs in a flash. 

Speed tickets would be taken care of later. 

“We are going to help, like it or not.” 

Oh, Boy did Joe have a bad feeling about this plan of theirs.


	18. Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He doesn't want to rule the world, or see it burn in ashes, he just wants to kick life in the face for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics used:   
> 'Homeward Bound/Home' Glee Cast  
> 'Remeber the Name' Fort Minor

> November 20, 2016 
> 
>  

Barry had been walking down the street when he saw the giant Flash sign in the sky. His hand hadn’t left his pockets since he left the apartment, he didn’t want to show the world that his hands were shaking because of some stupid comment. It had been a bold remark, _You’re a monster,_ but it had also been one that was probably true. 

Barry Allen was a monster, and that’s why his hands were shaking. 

The rest of his body was shaking too, but that was because of the cold. As it turns out, expensive coats are not as hot as Barry would like them to be. They were only expensive and very itchy. Barry found himself wondering why Oliver liked this coats so much, and he stopped dead in his tracks. 

Bitterness rose to his mouth as he asked the question again. He shouldn’t be thinking about Oliver, he just made Barry more bitter and angry than he already was. He breathed in and looked at the sky. Clouds could be seen far above the near transparent dome that Abdera had created but reflected on the dome was something Barry thought he would never see again. The Flash distress call he had invented with Cisco was reflected on the dome, someone was calling The Flash. He could imagine who was calling him and what was the reason for being called. His so-called teammates wanted something from him, probably to put him in one of the cells on S.T.A.R. Labs. He wondered for one second if it would be a god idea to call Abdera and Andrea so that he could take this team down once and for all. 

Then he came up with a much better idea. If he could get arrested and make it look like it was involuntary Abdera and Andrea would have no control over him. They wouldn’t know what betrayed them because it would seem as if Barry had tried to do what they wanted him to do, kill Cisco Ramon so that the team would have no way of knowing the future, and ended up in a prison cell instead.

He could get his revenge from inside, he could hurt them more than it would hurt them if he tried to attack from outside. Maybe, just maybe, he could gain their trust only to break it the moment he has the chance. That sounded like a much more rational plan than killing two million people. 

He followed the beam of light until he got to the place where it was coming from. The top of the building was nearly deserted. The only thing which he could use as a hideout was the shadow of the building beside him, and that’s exactly what he did. 

The shadow of the night combined with the shadow of the building was enough for him to be completely protected, the only thing that Iris and Wally West could possibly see when they turned around was his silhouette and his hair which looked silver from the moonlight. With his hands still in his pockets and with rage coursing through his veins, he spoke with a cocky tone of voice and short words, “You called?” 

His ex-step-siblings turned around to the sound of his voice, and his expressions were so relieved that Barry could almost start to believe his theory that something was not quite right with his memories. Iris took a step forward, and all of the doubts were washed away, these people had hurt him. He took a step back. 

Iris lowered her head in a silent apology, “We need your help.” 

Barry chuckled and looked to the side, he couldn’t believe his ears. Did they really think he was that forgiving? “I don’t know if you two have known this, but it’s not smart to help the enemy.” 

“We are not your enemies, Barry,” Wally said. 

Barry looked at him incredulously. He knew Wally couldn’t see him, but he couldn’t help himself. “Oh yeah?” He asked. “Did you two decide to switch sides? Because if that is not the case then we _are_ enemies.” 

Of course, that was not the case. They were loyal followers of everything that was good. He knew Iris and Wally, they would never follow Abdera, they would never betray their teams. 

“Look, Barry, we are not asking your help as your teammates but as your siblings.” 

Barry laughed again, “You are both like Lyla, acting like you don’t remember what you did to me.” He took a step forward, they both looked at him with confused expressions, he took another step, walking into the light that he had been trying to hide from earlier. “I might have considered to help you if it was something related to work, but _never_ as family.” 

Hurt flashed across both Iris’s and Wally’s features, but Iris avoided the topic of their betrayal, “You have met with Lyla recently?” 

_Oh,_ he thought as a smirk sneaked into his features, _they don’t know about Lyla’s ties with my team._ “Yeah. We had a nice chat about how you were all suffering without my help. We also talked about how your team wouldn’t be able to count with A.R.G.U.S. if they ever need it. You see, A.R.G.U.S is already helping Abdera.” 

“You are lying,” Wally stated, “Lyla would never do that to us.” 

“I became many things,” Barry said taking a step forward, “Liar is not one of them.” 

“Why do would you tell us if it wasn’t a lie? Isn’t it stupid to reveal threats to your enemy?” 

Barry shrugged. “Lyla is not part of my plan. I don’t care what you knows about her or about who she is allied with.” 

“So you are not helping Abdera?” Wally asked. 

But before Barry could answer Iris interrupted the conversation. “You can always come back to us, Barry. Everyone is back at S.T.A.R. labs, and I’m sure that we would all be happy to have you back on our team.” 

Barry’s smile wasn’t entirely fake. He could at least fake being defeated, or at least get rid of someone that he was sure would read the future and probably predict Barry’s moves even before he even finished planning them. “Well, I am interested in everyone being on S.T.A.R. Labs. I’m not interested in joining your team, though.” 

He turned towards the edge of the building, Wally’s voice stopped him. “Where are you going?” 

He sent a smirk over his shoulder, “As I said, I’m interested in everyone being at S.T.A.R. labs.” 

And he is gone in less than the time it takes for Iris to even think about saying anything else. Speed courses through his system as he heads towards S.T.A.R. Labs and he finds himself feeling stupid for thinking that he technically isn’t using speed, but velocity. Maybe Barry Allen, the one that lived before the Paradox, isn’t completely dead. 

After all, what kind of villain thinks about a name as nerdy as Velocity?

 

-*-

 

The trouble it might drag you down

If you get lost, 

you can always be found

 

-*-

 

They heard Barry’s voice through the S.T.A.R. lab’s speakers ten minutes after they got to the rooftop. Everyone knew they had to prepare, they only have two hours tops before they got here, but Oliver never expected his response to be so fast. It was like he had been waiting for something to happen. 

Now they had a few minutes to get ready, Iris and Wally knew the plan, they knew that they needed to delay Barry as much as they could. 

“ _You called?_ ”

His voice was cold and bitter, the opposite of the Barry Allen that Oliver had fallen for. The opposite of everything that everyone was used to. Dread and disappointment settled into Oliver’s body like a blanket, he grabbed his bow and arrows filled with the nanobots that would carry the Anti-Speed serum and attached the device that would give Oliver all of Barry’s speed. 

He had always told Barry that he was better than he was. That he could inspire people in a way that Oliver never would. That he was the nicest and sweetest person, Oliver would ever encounter. Oliver had felt like Barry was more than just his partner for a long time, once he dared to call him his little brother, now he wanted to call him his lover in a near future.   
It only hit Oliver that he would be fighting _Barry Allen_ when Barry stated that he was their enemy. This time, they didn’t have a plan on how to turn Barry back to normal. They had a plan on how to beat him, though, like he was another one of their enemies like he was the kind of person that deserved to be locked up. 

Oliver felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around to see Felicity, “Oliver, are you okay?” 

He pursed his lips, _No, not really._ “Yeah. I’m fine. It’s just kind of hard to think it’s Barry we will be fighting.” 

Felicity nodded in agreement. There was nothing she could say that would calm Oliver down, she knew that, so she didn’t even try. “You need to be in your position.” 

“Right,” He said and didn’t even wait for an answer.   
He walked up to the place where he needed to be and crouched on the top of the wooden structure that they had installed as part of the battlefield. He touched the device on his ear, “Cisco, are you in the room yet?” 

The device crackled as Cisco answered, “Felicity and I are with Gideon.” Cisco confirmed, “We just need him to arrive.” 

“Is everyone else where they are supposed to be?” 

“Yeah,” Cisco said, “Barry just left Wally and Iris on the rooftop. He will be getting here at any second.” 

Oliver was wearing his mask for some strange reason, maybe because he wanted to have some connection to Barry, some reminder that Barry was still _his_ Barry, not the monster he had been turned into. Except his Barry wasn’t as cocky, rude or sassy as the person standing in the middle of the battlefield. 

“Let me guess. Oliver is probably hiding somewhere, and there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of traps around the place.” He snarled. “Your game is getting old Queen, I already know all of your tricks.” 

Oliver jumped down and landed a few meters away from Barry. “I was not hiding. There is no hiding from you because you could find us all in a few seconds, but you didn’t do that.” 

Barry smiled bitterly, “We’ve had a similar conversation before, haven’t we? Let me guess, you want me to end with two arrows in my back again. Maybe, I don’t know, I could run to the end of the room while you attempt to shoot me.” 

“I could kill you anytime.” 

“I want to see you try,” Barry snarled, “ _Ollie._ ” 

He drew and shot the arrow fast enough to have killed any normal person, but Barry was not normal. Barry Allen was fast enough to outrun a bullet. The arrow was caught, and Oliver shot three or four more. Each one of them was caught by Barry. If he noticed the difference in the arrows, he didn’t say a word. 

“Oliver, Barry is here alone. Abdera is nowhere to be seen.” 

Oliver didn’t have the change to answer. Barry lunged forward with incredible speed and punched Oliver in the face. There was no holding back now, Barry Allen wasn’t going to make this fight fair, just fast, and Oliver had to try to keep up. 

He stumbled a few steps back, but he saw the next punch coming. He tucked and rolled to the side, Barry’s punch was delivered to the air and Oliver kicked Barry on the knees. Barry stumbled forward, and he turned around. 

Oliver stood up, and Barry took off his coat. His eyes were filled with unmeasurable rage. But instead of dropping the coat to the floor Barry threw it at Oliver’s face with all of his strength. Oliver barely had time to deflect the coat, but the height of it and the fact that it was bigger than what he usually deflected distracted Oliver. Barry had the enough time to run over to Oliver and grab him by the throat. 

He was pushed against a crate with such force and speed that he lost consciousness for a few seconds. 

“I have gotten better at fighting,” Barry gloated “and I beat you in speed, so that means that I win.” 

Oliver was really happy about the knives that Cisco had given him. _“Just in case you run out of arrows.”_

He took out the blade from the compartment in his wrist and even if he cut the palm of his hand he knew he had won at least this part of the fight. He brought his arm up and stabbed the lower part of Barry’s arm. He let out a howl of pain and dropped Oliver to the floor. Oliver crumpled down to the floor and activated the nanobots before Barry could take the knife off his arm. 

Oliver stood up and ran. Barry used his super speed to catch up with him, but the waves of pain that washed over Oliver were enough to know that as Barry got slower Oliver got faster by the time that Oliver had gotten to the end of the room, Barry had only run half way.

He looked at Oliver with surprise. “Oh, I see you met Harrison Wells from earth-2.” 

Oliver was to overwhelm to answer. Hell, he was too overwhelmed to move. The only thing he could do was look up at Barry with tired eyes. Barry walked over, and Oliver couldn’t do anything but watch as Barry paraded towards Oliver. 

“I guess he didn’t theorise that giving you the speed force would hurt you, did he?” 

Oliver felt like there wasn’t enough oxygen entering his system, not only because of the speed force but because of what Barry was doing what he was doing. 

_“Oliver what is happening?”_

He could only breathe heavily in response and try to keep his eyes wide open. 

_“Oliver.”_

Barry’s fingers touched Oliver’s face, and he didn’t have the strength to fight back. His fingers didn’t linger in one spot, though, they travelled up through his cheek until they touched the mask. 

“I See you kept the mask I gave you,” Barry commented. “Did it remind you of a time when I wasn’t the guy you were trying to fight?” 

When Barry took off Oliver’s mask, the air felt unusually cold against his face. He gasped, trying to say something try to tell Barry to fucking leave his mask alone. Oliver didn’t realise that Barry had the knife in his hand until he brought it to the mask and put it through one of the eye holes. 

“You need to stop trying to fight the fact that I’m your enemy now.” 

He started to pull on the mask and slowly it ripped apart with the blade. Where the fuck where Thea and Dig? 

“You are alone Oliver,” Barry said, “I took your advice and checked the area before I came into battle. Thea and Diggle are sleeping somewhere in this room.” 

“Leave my mask…” Oliver demanded wasting at least half of the energy he had left. 

Barry moved to the other eye hole and stuck the knife into it. “Or what? Are you going to fight me?” He taunted. 

Oliver couldn't answer. Oliver couldn’t do anything when Barry ripped the other part of the mask apart. He didn’t doubt that Barry would have continued to shred the mask to pieces as Oliver washed helplessly but just then someone hit Barry in the head with something metallic.

 He crumpled to the floor, and Oliver looked up to see Cisco Ramon holding one of the training batons that he had brought here when they came for the first time. 

It was only a matter of seconds as Oliver crumpled to the floor beside Barry. His head confidentially fell beside Barry’s hand, the one that was holding the mask, and the last thing Oliver saw before his vision blurred with tears was the mask which had been cut into two different pieces. 

As it turns out, crying is an energy consumer. Because that disturbing image was the last thing, he saw. 

 

-*-

_This is ten percent luck,_

_twenty percent skill_

_Fifteen percent concentrated power of will_

_Five percent pleasure,_

_fifty percent pain_

_-*-_

 

Three days later, Oliver woke up. He couldn’t move initially, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t do anything except panic in silence as he body and voice failed to respond to his commands. 

Seven hours later Oliver was trying to walk again. His legs were unstable, and his whole body felt like it would turn into slime at any second, but both teams were patient with him. Diggle, Thea and Andrew were patrolling the city as the rest of his team stayed behind. 

Joe was the one that helped Oliver give his first steps. Iris was there when he fell. Caitlin was the one that brought him the cane that would help him move around while he healed. Felicity was always by his side, ready to bring his water or anything that he needed. Cisco was the one that attached some kind of supports to Oliver’s legs. Wally was there as moral support and cheered on the team every time Oliver managed to walk a few steps. 

There was only one thing that was bothering Oliver about the situation in the cortex apart from the fact that he was literally learning how to walk again. The mannequin that usually had Barry’s original suit was no longer occupied by the Flash suit. The Green Arrow suit stood in its place, mask missing. 

Iris caught Oliver looking at the mannequin many times. Enough times for her to make everyone stop what they were doing. “Why don’t you all go to have lunch? It’s five o’clock, and none of you have eaten since this morning.” 

“Oliv-“ 

“It’s fine Cisco,” Oliver assured, “I’m fine. Now go and have lunch.” 

“Iris, are you coming with us?” Joe asked. 

Iris smiled, and Oliver could see right through her mask. “I had lunch before I came here. I’ll stay with Oliver.” 

Oliver leant on Iris as they all left. Yes, he had his cane, and he had the leg supports, but standing was still difficult. Once they were all gone and Oliver was sure that no one would hear them he looked down at Iris, “Thank you for that.” 

She looked up at him, “You looked like you needed space.” 

“Yeah, I do. It’s been a hard few days.” 

She helped him get over to the medical bed, and once Oliver laying down again, he started to relax. She looked at him and cleared her throat. “I will go. You are probably tired and want to be alone.” 

Oliver shook his head, “Stay. Tell me what happened while I was out.” 

She looked at him for a few seconds then snorted, “I know I probably shouldn’t say this, but one day I will travel back in time and tell my twelve-year-old self how I get to be the friends with Oliver Queen, and she has to wait fourteen years to meet him.” 

That made Oliver smile. “The day I got back in time I will tell my seventeen-year-old self that not only have I managed to not have sex with a person in nearly a year but that I fell for someone that isn’t a woman or ridiculously wealthy. I know it probably won’t happen, but I would pay to see my reaction.” 

“I would pay to see the magazines’ reactions,” Iris said ignoring the comment about Oliver being in love with a man. “I bet the headlines would be something along the lines of ‘Woman All Over the Country Cry Because of the Loss of a Playboy.’ ” 

“I’m pretty sure that was a headline ten years ago.” 

“It probably was.” Iris agreed. 

The silence that followed was not uncomfortable, but it was not ideal either. It gave him time to think and to study Iris as both Oliver Queen and Green Arrow. She was breathtaking, everyone could agree with that. Her copper skin seemed to have little to no imperfections, and her facial features were incredible. She looked like someone that Oliver would have picked to have a one night stand with when he was a playboy. 

But Iris also had a certain slump to her shoulders and cracks in her mask that Oliver couldn’t possibly miss. Behind the mask who was trying to lighten the mood of the situation was a person who was not only sad but also broken and preoccupied. Someone who seemed to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders even if she had next to none responsibilities on this team besides moral support. 

“Iris?” He asked, and her head turned towards him. “We will do our best to get out of the situation.” 

She ran her hands over her face, and her mask came off with them accidentally,  “Thank you for not making empty promises.” 

“I’m done with people making them to me, so I will not make one with you.”  

She stayed silent for a second, “You’re in love with Barry, right?” 

The accusation froze him in place. He didn’t know what to do, or how to react. Had he really been _that_ transparent? Transparent enough for everyone to notice his attraction towards certain speedster? 

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions like that,” Iris apologised, “I just have noticed how you seem to soften around Barry, and then when we were changing you into the S.T.A.R. Labs merchandise I realised that you had Barry’s phone on your suit. Then you said that you fell in love with someone that wasn’t a woman, and I just assumed-“ 

“You are not wrong Iris.” 

She pursed her lips and looked at Oliver with sad eyes. “Do you want to see him?”

And that’s how Oliver ended up on the lower levels of S.T.A.R. labs looking at the door with horror as Iris typed something on a little screen. The door opened and out from the hole came a capsule which held a triumphant looking Barry Allen. 

He hadn’t need to be warned about Barry not being the same Barry he remembered, he knew that, but he couldn’t help but feel a sharp sting of pain when Barry rolled his eyes at the sight of Oliver standing. “I thought I would see the last of you.” 

“You won’t kill me that easily,”  Oliver answered coldly. 

“I don’t remember being the one that killed you.” 

“I don’t remember you being such an asshole. What happened to you?” Oliver snapped.

“Talking about things that we don’t remember,” Barry said placing both hands beside the glass door separating them, “I don’t remember the reason why I became bitter being any of your business.” 

Oliver’s shoulder tensed, and his jaw clenched. He took one wobbly step towards the glass door and looked at Barry in the eyes. His eyes were cold and unforgiving, his stance was relaxed and cocky like he knew he owned this place. Like he was aware that regardless of how much of a dick he was to any of them they would come back. They would always come back. 

“What did they do to you, Barry?” Oliver asked. “What did they do to _our_ Barry?”

“If by they, you mean Abdera and Andrea I can tell you that they didn’t do anything except take me in once all of you left me alone.” Barry spat. 

Rage filled Oliver, and he slammed his fists on the glass, he caused sound, but he wasn’t at his full strength so it was underwhelming, to say the least, “We didn’t do that to you, Barry. We _love_ you, we would _never_ hurt you like this.” 

“Well, as far as I remember you did. You hurt me enough to turn me into this.” 

Oliver turned around and hobbled towards Iris, but he was cut short when Barry spat words that were laced with acid, “Isn’t pathetic how you are supposed to be the stronger one out of the two of us but now you can barely storm out of a room?” 

Oliver didn’t know if the bitter taste in his mouth came from the words or from someplace he had probably bitten and was now making blood pour into his mouth. “Isn’t it pathetic how you need to make fun of my current situation to seem like the one in power?” 

He wanted those words to be the last ones Barry heard that night, so he ignored all of Barry’s screams and protests and pressed the button that read ‘CLOSE’. 

His screams were silenced, and the pounding in the glass came to a stop. He looked at Iris, and the message was clear. “Now I do want to be left alone, don’t come looking for me.”

It was slow and pathetic, just like Barry had said, but Oliver managed to storm out of the room. For the rest of the night, he wondered if he would ever get a year in which Drama wasn’t the most important part of his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop look at that, I just wrote a very long chapter. The longest yet. 4458 words. Be proud, please.


	19. Catch Me if You Can - Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some bribing, Barry decides that maybe he can use his current situation as an advantage. But first, he needs to prove himself to be helpful.

> November 23, 2016
> 
>  

The night came fast after the incident. Oliver used his mask to hide the fact that he had been so shaken by Barry’s words. He didn’t need other people to realise that Barry’s words were making him fall apart as they were all trying to build him back together. 

The ones who had been patrolling the city had returned an hour before everyone decides to go back to sleep. Oliver spoke to Thea, to Diggle, to Andrew, and then they all had to leave. 

_“Are you sure you don’t want to come back to us to the house?” Dig had asked him. Apparently, both teams were now staying at the West residence; together they could protect each other better than in different parts of the city._

_“I’m fine Dig.” He had assured him. In reality, he was aching to be with his team, but there was something he needed to do fist. “Maybe tomorrow when I’m not such a burden to everyone I will head to the house with you.”_

Oliver paced his room without the cane. He knew that he was doing it for more than just trying to regain total control over his legs. He was worried; his mind was not up here but down there with Barry. Yes, Barry was an asshole, but that didn’t mean that Oliver couldn’t worry about his partner. 

Oliver didn’t know how this makeshift prison worked. Had they let Barry take a shower while he was here? Had they given him some time to go to the bathroom? Had they given him something to sleep on? 

His eyes wandered to the empty mattress and the rumpled sheets and pillow. He couldn’t believe he was thinking about doing this. 

He ruffled through the closet at the far end of the room, where they kept towels, blankets and pillows. It didn’t take a lot of time to find everything he needed from the closet, and then he searched for Barry’s clothes. He took out what Barry had once told him that were the most comfortable clothes he owned. He grabbed one of the energy bars Cisco had made for Barry when he was a speedster and found his way down to the particle accelerator ring. 

Oliver typed some quick commands in the same way he had seen Iris do the day before and after a few seconds; he was standing in front of Barry’s cell. 

He had been fast asleep judging by his slumped position and tired eyes, but now he was awake and glaring at Oliver. “You come to bother me again?”

“If you don’t want a pillow and a shower I can leave.” 

Barry was standing in a few seconds studying Oliver with intelligent eyes. “There’s a catch, right?” 

“Not a catch, but maybe a favour in return.” 

“One favour for a shower, pillow, blanket and food? I’m assuming the favour will be something big.” 

Oliver sighed, “I just need you not to be an ass tomorrow when we come to talk to you.” 

Barry seemed to consider this, “Why do you care if I am an ass to them? They know I’m not on their side anymore.” 

Oliver opened the door to the cell, but Barry didn’t come out of it yet. “They are devastated. They remember a sweet and caring Barry, having you be an ass would kill them.” 

“So you want me to act friendly and kind?” 

“No, You and I know that won’t happen. I just need you not to be a dick. There is a difference, you know?” 

Barry stepped out of his cell and studied Oliver. He saw his leg supports and smiled. “I could escape right now.” 

Oliver smiled back, “Something tells me you won’t do that.” 

Barry’s smile nearly light up his face. Nearly. There seemed to be a dark shadow over him, and it was hurting Oliver more than his legs did. He tilted his head to the floor beside him; Barry couldn’t have seen the things from his cell, but as he stepped closer, he saw that Oliver had brought everything for him. Pillow, Blankets, towel, clothes. 

“How did you get those?” Barry commented with wide eyes, “Those are the most comfortable clothes I own. I never take them out of my house. How did you guess I liked them?” 

Oliver shrugged, “You told me once.” 

Barry looked at him puzzled, “No I didn’t. I have never told anyone of the existence of this clothes.” 

“Well, you told me.” 

Oliver could see why Barry hadn’t told anyone of the clothes. The sweatpants were ridiculously large and had fur on the inside. Oliver guessed that if Cisco ever heard about them, he would make several jokes about how Barry was one step away from becoming a fury. The shirt was also ridiculously large, and by ridiculously large, he meant ridiculously large. It was at least three sizes too large and God if anyone ever knew that Barry owned a shirt Green Arrow and Flash he wouldn’t see the end of it. 

“Make yourself a bed,” Oliver commanded as he crouched down with the help of the wall and handing the three blankets and the pillow he had chosen to Barry. 

Barry grabbed the objects gingerly like they could explode in his arms if he wasn't careful enough. As Barry arranged the makeshift bed, Oliver used all of his strength to stand up. He hadn’t realised that maybe crunching down wasn’t the smartest thing he had ever done. 

He grunted, catching Barry’s attention. “Too old to stand up?” 

“To snarky to keep quiet?” He answered. 

“I thought villains weren’t supposed to be patient with their enemies,” Barry commented, “Or be worried about them.” 

“Barry, shut up.” 

Barry whistled, “I didn’t realise I was irritating enough to make you want to shut me up after only speaking to me for five minutes.” 

“The only thing irritating about you is the fact that you keep insisting that you are my enemy.” 

Barry stopped arranging his bed. “That’s because I am Oliver. As far as I can remember, I have been your enemy for more than three months now.”

“Ten days ago we were bickering in a kitchen because we couldn’t decide if we wanted to eat a home cooked meal of go to McDonalds.” Oliver countered. “Does that sound like enemies to you?” 

“Does it look like I care?” 

“Not really, you ass.” 

But it did look like Barry cared about the fact that Oliver remembered something entirely different from what Barry remembered because he didn’t say anything the rest of the time they spent in his cell. Neither did he say anything as they walked to the showers or while he was showering for that matter. Oliver handed him the clothes in silence once he walked out of the showers with wet hair and a towel wrapped around his waist. 

He ruffled his hair with his towel once his underwear and pants were on, leaving his hair sticking up in odd directions and then he chided Oliver for not bringing a hairbrush, but there was no real heat behind the short and hurtful words. 

Barry put his shirt over his head and as it settled on his shoulders Oliver couldn’t help but feel a familiar taste of bitterness and hurt as the shirt showed a hand drawn a picture of him and Barry fighting something with their backs against each other dressed in their fighting gear. 

Barry ran a hand through his hair making it less disorganised than it had been before. “Oliver, can I ask you a question?” 

He hadn’t been expecting that from Barry, only snarky remarks and rude comments, not a voice laced with fear and uncertainty. Maybe, just of, Barry Allen was trying to come back from the ashes. “Sure. What’s up?” 

“Why are you helping me?” He asked, taking a step towards Oliver, who was leaning against the door. “I mean, I was an ass to you. I ripped your mask apart. I called you weak and stupid and probably made you feel like shit, but you came back to help me when nobody else would.” 

Oliver looked down. He had many explanations himself. Barry was his partner. Barry had helped him many times before, and this was payback. His feelings had grown to the point that he had been driven to help him. He knew that Barry wasn’t doing this because he had chosen to, Barry had been tricked into believing he wanted to do this. 

He settled with the safest option, the easiest one to explain, because just like always, Oliver had to hold his feelings hidden in a box far away from the prying eyes of the person who was causing those feelings. “The last conversation we had was the silliest conversation I have ever had. You vowed that if I didn’t go to sleep, you would drag me back to bed and would tie me up if it was necessary.” Oliver explained without actually explaining why he had chosen to help Barry. “I was so convinced that I would see you again in the morning when we woke up that instead of saying Goodnight I ended our conversation with ‘ _Whatever, Barry’._ The next day I woke up, and you were gone, Abdera had taken you and turned into what you are right now.” 

He met Barry's eyes and realised that they were full of uncertainty. Like he wanted to believe Oliver but his memories, things that were actually his and not tales told by Oliver’s eyes and mouth, kept attacking him. Telling him that what Oliver was saying was complete bullshit. 

Barry needed time to think, and the safest option was to ignore every conversation he could possibly have with Oliver so he settled with being the person Oliver so desperately was trying to kill. “Nice sob story. Now I need to get some sleep if you really want me not to be an ass tomorrow morning.” 

He pushed past Oliver, his touch left a mark on Oliver, like he was burning, turning to ashes as Barry touched him. Or maybe it wasn’t him who was burning, perhaps it was Barry who was turning to ashes. 

 

Barry stormed into the cell, all promise of food forgotten, all promise of everything forgotten because of uncertainty. He wanted to believe Oliver so badly that he had actually let Oliver _Queen_ , the perfect liar and deceiver, make him think that he had been turned into this monster by Abdera. 

Images flashed through his mind as he laid down on the cell and put one of the blankets over him. His back was turned towards the door, so that if Oliver came he wouldn’t be able to see the hurt expression on Barry’s face. An expression full of uncertainty and hurt. 

 

The next morning when Barry woke up the door to his cell was open and next to his makeshift bed was one of the protein bars Cisco had made for him with a post-it attached to it. 

‘ _Try not to kill anyone, Barry. Please_.’ 

They were going to talk to him? They were planning on listening? Barry smirked and crumpled to note into a little ball and hid the protein bar beneath his pillow. That would definately be useful in a near future. 

"Don't worry Oliver," he said to himself, "I'm not killing anyone. Not yet." 

 

-*-

 

My enemies' enemy, 

Will be my new 

best friend.

 

-*-

 

Cisco walked into the cortex and found a circle of angry looking people surrounding Oliver Queen. This reminded him of all of those times when people started to scold Barry because of something he did, and judging by Oliver’s expression he did not appreciate the rant of his teammates. 

Cisco didn’t want to be one of the people screaming at Oliver until he heard what Oliver had done. “You let him _out_?” 

“You came here to yell at me too?” 

Cisco ran a hand through his hair, “Man do you know what he could have done to you?” 

“Yes,” Oliver answered looking at Cisco in the eyes, “But he didn’t do it. I’m safe, standing here, nothing happened. Except that I got him to co-operate.” 

“Wait, what?” Felicity asked. 

“I would have told you sooner, but all of you have been screaming at me for the past half an hour.” 

“I did think about it,” everyone in the room froze, “hurting him, I mean. But then I realised that my enemies’ enemy is my best friend, and I decided to help him instead.” 

Cisco turned around and found himself staring at the person which he had smacked in the head and knocked him unconscious only a few days before. The person who he had locked up in a cell. The person who he had once called a best friend until he threatened to kill Cisco. 

“I must warn you, Abdera must never find out I am doing this because she will kill everyone in the city, but I would rather help you than let her kill two million people.” 

Felicity was the first to speak. “She is planing on doing _what_?”

Barry leant against the door frame of the cortex entrance. “She doesn’t want to destroy the cities, she wants revenge on them,” Barry explained. “She is crazier than James Jesse, and she wants everyone to know the pain that she went through when her mother and fiancee died. She has been planing on killing two million people, one-third of the cities’ population. No now would be left without someone they care about dying.” 

“What is she planning to do afterwards?” Cisco asked. 

Barry’s icy stare focused on Cisco and he felt the urge to hide. He didn’t like this new Barry Allen. “She never told me. I didn’t care. But she did tell me many things that are much more relevant than this.” 

Caitlin stepped forward, “How can something be more relevant than the lives of two million people?” 

Barry didn’t answer her question. “She has been recruiting meta-humans and people who hate these cities or what to see them burn. She was the upper-hand in numbers.” 

“There is a ‘but’ right?” Oliver asked.

“But we have the upper-hand in knowledge.” 

“Do you know something they don’t?” Oliver asked. 

Barry grimaced, “I don’t, but there is something in this building that does.” 

Cisco shook his head, “Barry, you know it’s not healthy to mess with the timelines or learn something from the future.” 

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Barry spat bitterly, “But Gideon is the only chance we have of beating them at their own game. Unless you can vibe the future.” 

Cisco shook his head, “I can’t vibe without something that is not theirs or without them being near me.” 

Barry spread his hands like Cisco had made a point. “Then you all know what we have to do.” 

They all stayed quiet and Barry had to be the one to speak again. 

“Cisco and Felicity, you have to guard S.T.A.R. labs, if they come looking for me, which they will, you need to make your best effort to stop them from finding me doing what I am going to do. Oliver and Andrew are coming with me to meet Gideon. The rest of you must guard the entrance to the Time Room.” 

Cisco wanted to take him seriously, but he was wearing a Flarrow t-shirt and sweatpants. “Since when do villains give orders to us?” 

Oh, he shouldn’t have said that. Barry crossed the distance between himself and Cisco in a matter of seconds. Two strides with long legs and suddenly Cisco had to look up to focus on him. “You asked for my help, this is what my help looks like. Now you either do as I tell you or I will do what I originally came to do. Let me tell you, Cisco Ramon, that is something you don’t want me doing.” He looked up and met the horrified faces of all of the team. “I will see you in the Time Room. Don’t take too long.” 

He was gone in a flurry of movement, leaving Cisco staring into empty space and shivering like he had just seen Eobard Thawne was out of the room. He would trade it, Eobard for Barry, he would rather have the Reverse Flash as an enemy than Barry Allen. 

“I really don’t like him.” Cisco mumbled. 

“Neither do I,” he heard Felicity mumble, “I know he is just bluffing but I feel threatened. I suggest you all follow his lead.” 

That’s how Cisco ended monitoring the entrance of S.T.A.R. labs, knowing that Barry Allen would kill him if they gave him half the chance. 

 

-*-

Sometimes before it gets better

The darkness gets bigger

The person that you’d take a bullet for is behind the trigger

-*- 

 

“I thought I told you not to be an asshole.” 

Barry sighed in exasperation. “I considered your offer and decided to twist it up a bit. I would be an ass, but a helpful ass. Instead of a useless pacifist.” 

Oliver stood in front of him now, “You didn’t need to be like the Barry. You could have been helpful and kind.” 

Barry wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “Find a better bribe next time and maybe I will help you.” 

Andrew cleared his throat, Oliver and Barry turned to look at him and at everyone behind him. “I have been told that only you can open the door. Why don’t you do us the honour?” 

Barry took a step forward and opened the door. The whirr of the mechanism was something that they weren’t all used to so Oliver tensed up thinking that maybe something had gone terribly wrong. Barry rolled his eyes at Oliver’s stupidity and braced in once the door was fully opened. The light turned on once the door closed completely again, the only once in the room where Andrew, Oliver and Barry. 

Barry turned towards the pedestal in which Gideon was stored in. He touched it lightly and the face of the computer came up. Her blue light illuminated the room and he felt Oliver’s and Andrew’s presence beside him. 

“Hello, Barry Allen, Oliver Queen, Andrew Winters.”  

“Gideon,” he greeted. 

“You know who we are?” Andrew asked. 

“Of course, you are Andrew Winters, most commonly known as Earthshatter, owner of S.T.A.R. labs-“ 

“That is not important right now Gideon,” Barry interrupted annoyed, “We need to ask you something very important.” 

“Before you ask me to show you anything I have to warn you about serious changes in the timeline.” 

Barry frowned, “Changes in the timeline?” 

“Yes,” Gideon said, “the timeline I first showed you when you arrived here has been altered. Do you wish for mr to show you the new timeline?” 

Before Oliver could warn him about the dangers of looking into the future Barry ordered for Gideon to look into the future. He really wished she hadn’t. 

“Oh, my God.” 

He heard Andrew gasp and Oliver move towards the news article that had popped up. Barry himself sagged against the pedestal. This is exactly what he didn’t want. This is exactly what Barry had been trying to avoid. He had let himself be captured and still it happened? He tried to breathe but it was difficult, these people were not even dead yet and Barry was feeling the guilt. 

> **_Six million people killed in Central and Star City tragedy._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you liked that chapter, and I am sorry for the cliffhanger. I will try to type the next chapter up as fast as possible, but I don't know when I will be posting it. Until then, hang on. 
> 
> If it seems like the conflict got resolved easily, then you are wrong. This is not over. Not yet, and Barry will have to make a choice in a near future. One that we might not like at all.


	20. SING - Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry wished that he wasn't so intelligent and such a good actor while Abdera Winters questions her life choices.

> November 24, 2016

 

“-so you are actually telling me that your speed isn’t something that was randomly given to you?” 

Oliver was sitting crossed legged talking to Barry. Oliver was outside the cell while Barry was sitting crossed legend on the makeshift bed. Barry nodded, “Basically.” He stated. “When I was fighting Zoom, I lost my speed temporarily, and when I tried to gain it back, I became part of the speed force.” 

“That’s why you suddenly became so fast?” 

Barry nodded, but he seemed irritated. Oliver could guess at who and why. He hated Andrea Winters and her memory controlling abilities. Oliver had been warned about not talking to Barry like he didn’t remember what happened but in that second he needed to know how far the arrow had to go into Andrea’s chest the next time he saw her. 

“What did I do to you?” 

Barry’s head snapped up so fast Oliver could figure he had just gotten whiplash, “You mean apart from being the beginning of the spiral of hurt and betrayal that my life has become lately?” 

Oliver looked at him with a puzzled expression, “Look, Barry, I have been telling you for two days now that we didn’t do that. We didn’t do what Andrea lead you to believe we did.” Oliver took a deep breath and met Barry’s eyes. “Could you please tell me what I did to you?”

Barry chuckled bitterly, “Fine, just because you insist on acting like you can’t remember.” He looked at the ceiling and if Oliver didn’t know Barry he would think that he was doing that to avoid looking at Oliver, not to hide the tears that were coming. “It happened after the Paradox,” 

Oliver remembered what Barry had said about creating an alternative timeline in which everything was horribly wrong. 

_“Oliver,” He heard Barry say as soon as he picked up, his voice sounded darker and broken, like he had seen the world burn and had been powerless to stop it, “Can you meet me at our roof top?”_

_Oliver wanted to laugh, since when had the roof of a random apartment became their roof? But Barry’s voice was serious in a way Oliver had never heard it. “How fast can you get here?”_

_“Five minutes, give or take.”_

_Oliver pulled the hood of his suit up and left the Foundry, which he had just entered. “Then I will see you on our rooftop in five minutes.”_

_Barry took seven minutes to get to Star City, and as soon as he saw Oliver he was a bundle of nerves all over again. His team had reacted badly to the paradox incident; he didn’t want to see Oliver angry, but the guilt would eat him alive if he didn’t say sorry._

_Oliver noticed it immediately. Barry wasn’t walking like he normally did, with some kind of confidence that had been granted to him when he became the Flash. His eyes weren’t meeting Oliver’s eye and his movements were slow and calculated like too could harm someone if he moved violently._

_Oliver frowned, and he took a step forward, grabbing Barry’s forearm. “Barry, what’s wrong?” Barry looked at Oliver with broken eyes, and Oliver knew that something was horribly wrong. “Hey, Barry, it’s okay. Whatever happened it will be better, later on, I swear. Just don’t look at me like that, I’m supposed to be the sad one in this friendship.”_

_“Maybe you were wrong. I’m not emotionally healthy.” Barry said with tears brimming his eyes._

_Oliver frowned, “What are you talking about?”_

_Barry chewed on his lip before answering, “Do you remember the conversation we had about our mothers and how I had moved on and you hadn’t?”_

_Oliver nodded. He had his suspicions of where this conversation was heading too._

_“Well, I wasn’t over it. I went back in time and saved her and for nearly two years I messed everything up.”_

_“Barry it has been two days since you beat Zoom.”_

_Barry shook his head, “Not for me. It has been one year and eight months since I killed Zoom.”_

Barry finally looked down at Oliver, “Before everything started I confused my feelings for you. You turned me down and then I had to go and fight Zoom. I beat him and when I created the paradox I thought that maybe this would be better. Maybe in the paradox, I wouldn’t have to suffer from heartbreak and whatever life threw at me when I became the flash. Then in the paradox I didn’t become the Flash, in the other reality, I was a villain. 

I finally defeated the other me, the other speedster and I came home. When I did you were here and before you told me what you came here for I told you what I had done and you told me that you were there to give us a try, but you wouldn’t do it because I was too unstable.” Barry smiled bitterly, “And that was only the beginning of my problems.” 

Oliver needed time to think about what Barry had said about them being something, so he asked what would most likely be the distraction that he needed, “Am I allowed to know the rest of the story?” 

“Find me a better bribe and maybe you will hear it.” 

“I didn’t even bribe you to tell me my part of the story,” Oliver argued. 

Barry shrugged and continued the topic that been left behind when Oliver asked the question that leads Barry to open up for about a minute. “You were asking me about how I got so fast, well that’s because I stopped thinking about my speed like something that was made of science and accidents and realised that it was something that was real. I could trust it, and I could get more of the speed force when I needed it.”

But Oliver wasn’t going to keep listening to Barry, he needed to apologise, for more than one thing. “Barry, shut up.” 

Barry clamped his mouth shut and glared at Oliver. “If you don’t want any help you are invited to leave right now.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Barry seemed taken aback, Oliver Queen was _apologising_? “What?” 

“I’m sorry for everything that I did to you.” Oliver stated, “even if it was not me, I’m sorry for being what brought the world down for you.” 

Barry looked at him with confused eyes and Oliver sighed. 

“I’m sorry for taking your speed, too. I have heard you talk about how amazing and special it is, and I took it.” 

Bewilderment was now clouding Barry’s face. 

“And I guess I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess and putting so many people in danger because I wanted to have you as my partner.” 

Barry blinked three times. “You either had a massive character development in a few days, or you are going to ask me to do something.” 

  
Oliver glared at Barry, “Maybe I really am sorry for being an asshole. Even if that wasn’t me.” 

Barry stayed silent for a second before a wicked grin spread across his face. “Someone call Felicity, Queen, learned how to apologise, this is amazing.” 

A small smile crossed Oliver’s features, and Barry ruffled through his makeshift bed and took out the protein bar that Oliver had given Barry the day before. It was missing a piece, but Barry handed it to Oliver with a smile. A peace offering. 

“You need it more than I do.” 

Oliver grabbed the bar and took it out of the wrapping. He took a bite and smiled at Barry, it was true, Oliver needed the bar more than Barry did now that they were bringing Barry average meals instead of letting him rot. 

All most immediately Oliver started to feel dizzy, and Barry frowned when Oliver closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Is everything okay, Oliver?” 

Oliver shook his head, trying to clear it but only made himself dizzier. “I’m just dizzy; that’s all.” 

Barry crawled out of his cell and put his hand on Oliver's forehead. “Your temperature is normal. Try eating some more, being a speedster requires a lot of energy.” 

Oliver did as Barry told him, he was the experienced speedster after all. When he finished eating the food he only felt worse. 

“I’ll bring Caitlin,” Barry assured him before standing up and leaving the room. 

Oliver could sit straight after a few seconds and then he slumped on the ground no longer awake. 

From the hallway, Barry watched as Oliver fell on the ground and drifted off into induced sleep. Did they honestly think that leaving the scientist in a lab overnight was a good idea? Oliver would probably wake up in fifteen minutes, dazed and remembered a helpful Barry Allen.  
He deserved an Oscar. Seriously. 

He walked down the hallway to the room full of people that would take care of Oliver while he slipped into the Time Room and did what needed to be done. 

 

-*- 

Mouth to mouth

 resuscitation

Sounding heartbeats 

 Intimidations

-*- 

 

“Something is wrong with Oliver.” He announced into the room full of people. All eyes turned to him in a heartbeat, and he could feel the disapproval oozing from everyone. “I was teaching him about the speed force, and he passed out. I don’t know what to do.” 

“How do we know it wasn’t you?” Cisco inquired. 

“Because I won’t kill the other person that s capable of saving the city!” Barry said indignantly. _All though you are right, it was me._ “I think it was what happened to me at the begging. Randomly passing out after using my powers.” 

“Oh god,” Caitlin said, “I don’t think we have enough IV bags for something like that.” 

One by one they started to file out of the room and into the pipeline and Barry was left alone in the cortex. He turned around after looking around for anyone who might have lingered and realised that the only one left in the cortex was Andrew, and he was preparing the things for Oliver’s arrival. He wouldn’t pay attention to Barry and where he was going. 

He slipped into the time room with the grace of a panther and the door closed after him. Gideon appeared a few seconds later when Barry called her up, and she greeted him in her usual matter. 

“Gideon I need you to give me all of the files in the case of Star and Central Cities being destroyed by Abdera and Andrea Winters.” 

Hundreds of Articles came up, dating from different times, some of them written years later, some of them written the day it happened. Barry scanned over some of the articles and wrinkled his nose in disgust. Being an average human sucked. 

“Can you pull up anything related to Velocity?” 

Fifteen articles came up. All of them had a similar headline about how there was a new super villain in town who had helped with the destruction of both cities. How he had been the one that encouraged Abdera to do the gruesome acts of genocide. 

Barry’s throat constricted. “Do any of these articles say why Velocity helped Abdera and Andrea?” 

Gideon scanned the articles and then in her robotic voice informed Barry about everything she had learned, “Velocity was never captured but in his time he made one public statement.” 

“Can you pull up the video?” 

The Hologram flickered, and there was a reunion in the Grand Plaza in Star City. He could recognise himself as Velocity, making it clear that whatever this was he had been the cause of genocide. 

I the video he looked like he was full of confidence, something that he defiantly wasn’t right now. He knew what he was doing; he knew that every step was a declaration against the people of Star and Central City, and he was not going to waste his opportunity to strike fear into their hearts. Then Barry realised he didn’t need to strike fear into the hearts of people since they were probably filled with it all ready. 

He waltzed into the middle of the courtyard with a wicked grin on his face, and he stepped on a corpse. The thing is that it was no random body, it was Oliver Queen’s corpse. 

“ _No need to fear, people of Star City._ ” He said in a loud voice and the person behind the camera visibly shook. Barry knew why something was horribly wrong with his voice. It was like something had happened to his vocal chords and when they healed they healed incorrectly. His voice sounded _l_ ike something that would give anyone nightmares for a few years. _“The person that you have all feared for so long has been finally killed by me. You are all free of Oliver Queen now._ ”

Nobody dared to move, nobody spoke, and he wondered what other horrible things had he done to strike this much fear into so may people at the same time. 

“ _No one is cheering?_ ” He asked and then he fully stepped onto of Oliver’s corpse. “ _Didn’t expect it. You are all ungrateful little brats. Someone should teach you to praise your heroes.”_

At that moment someone stepped up, and Barry was left wishing that they wouldn’t have. “ _We only praise those who deserve to be honoured. You are not one of those people.”_

The girl’s red dressed was vibrant against the scene that they were living right now. Her hair was tied into pigtails, and she couldn’t have been older than nine. Her dress was what caught Barry’s attention, bright and cheerful, a contrast against the grey scene and horrifying images that were happening right now. 

Velocity walked towards the girl who stood her ground like the was nothing left to lose and then he knelt in front of her. Barry didn’t want to keep watching. 

“ _We cheer after people like Oliver Queen, not you Velocity.”_

Velocity tilted his head and looked at the girl like she was some weird experiment. _“If you won’t praise me, then you will have to fear me.”_

He grabbed the girl by the throat and raised her up; there was a collective gasp and a scream from a mother but nothing more. _“If you won’t praise me, then you will fear me. If you don't remember my name as a hero, then you will remember my name as a villain.”_

In a Flash, the girl’s head was rolling on the floor and then in a few seconds; there was no one left standing, excluding the person that was holding the camera. He walked towards the camera man, and he was visibly shaking with fear. The cowl of the suit was removed, and he found himself staring at a version of himself with one of the most hideous scars he had ever seen. Three lines that covered his left eye and gave him the complexion of someone dangerous. 

_“My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive.”_

Then the phone fell to the floor with a sickening crack. 

Barry would have vomited right there and then if it wasn’t for a voice that shook him out of his daze. The door had been melted off and the time room was now visible to anyone that passed. Sitting behind him was Andrew looking as horrified as Barry felt.  

He tried to say something, to walk towards Andrew and tell him to kill him before that happened to him, but the images of himself with a broken voice and killing the girl with no mercy, then promising everyone that he would make them fear him came rushing into his mind, and he stumbled. 

His knees hit the ground with a sickening crunch, and he tried to steady himself with something, but there was nothing to hold him up. He heard Andrew calling his name in the distance, but he didn’t want to look up. He didn’t want to do anything.

Andrew called for help, screamed and wailed for people to come here and comfort Barry when nobody could. Was that how he had looked when he killed the fifteen officers he had killed? Was that how scared they felt before Barry killed them? Was he on the path of becoming that person? 

Barry didn’t notice when they rushed into the room and kneeled beside him. He didn’t want to see them. He didn't want them to see him as he was in the video. The video was played once more, and everyone in the room fell quiet. Barry tried to block out the sounds, but he couldn’t hep but listen the sickening crack of the girl’s head hitting the floor, or the phone hitting the floor. He couldn’t help but listen as the wind took away many people’s lives. He had to listen as his damaged voice played once again. 

Caitlin had been sitting in front of him; now it was his turn to look up and meet her eyes. They looked cloudy and concerned. He needed to fight the inevitable hate that surfaced in his gut every time he looked at them. It was easier to do that now. 

“You need to lock me up before that happens.” 

Caitlin grimaced, “We can’t do that; we need your help.” 

He sat down on top of his legs and ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t let that happen.” 

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. His eyes met with Cisco’s, and he pleaded for his support. “We won’t let that happen. We are a team, remember?” 

Barry wondered if the Cisco from that timeline had said the same a few days before Barry became that. Suddenly he wasn’t so eager to carry out his plan; he didn’t want to get revenge on this people. 

He didn’t want to become Velocity, even if that seemed his inevitable future. 

-*-

I fell,

 like soldiers on the front line.

Under your spell,

 in the magic you inspire.

-*- 

 

Abdera walked into the mall like she owned the thing. Granted, she would own the thing in a few days, but for now, she was just another guest. Another customer who would probably disintegrate many people who were currently walking on the mall.

Why she had chosen to use this location as a meet up was beyond her understanding, but she followed his advice and requests. That’s what she always did when they needed support. They made them think that they would do things their way for a while, then the moment that Andrea got her hands on them, they were instantly bonded with the sisters. 

Currently, she was wearing something that maybe wasn’t appropriate for the climate or the meeting but hey who the hell cared? She had wanted to use the dress since she stole it a few days before and nothing was getting in the way of her using it. Besides, she wanted to dress to impress; maybe that would gain them an ally that would agree with them without the need of using her sister’s powers again. 

Frances Kane had contacted them after she had discovered her powers and had heard that they were looking for allies that would fight for them and get the protection of both villains. Abdera wrinkled her nose at the word; villains was a such and ugly word; she would much rather have a word like avenger or something. Villains sounded like they didn’t have any motive for what they were doing. 

As they got close to the coffee shop, Abdera looked around for a girl with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. That’s what she had described herself as, and right now there only was one person who matched that description. 

She motioned for her sister to follow her and as they got close, the woman looked up. She was startlingly beautiful, with gorgeous hair and full lips that captivated Abdera, but they weren’t here to flirt, they were her in business. 

“Frances Kane?” Abdera asked. 

The woman smiled nervously, “That would be me. But please, don’t call me Frances, I’m Frankie.” 

“Abdera and Andrea Winters.” She knew she didn’t need an introduction, but she said it anyway. She needed to see how fear flashed through their faces at the mention of her name. 

Frankie nodded hastily, “I know that. Please sit.” 

Both of them sat in front of Frankie, and she rolled her shoulders in nervousness. Abdera smiled, it was time to play nice and convince her to stay. “Don’t be nervous; we are not your enemies.” 

Frankie laughed nervously, “Thankfully; I would hate to have you as my enemies.” 

Abdera smiled and  looked at Frankie in the eyes, “You said that you are a metahuman that is willing to help us?” 

Frankie grimaced, “My power is quite destructive.” 

“Would you mind giving us a demonstration?” Asked Andrea. 

Frankie looked at her like she was some kind of weird animal, “Right now?” 

Abdera hummed in agreement. “We like to make a statement of power every time we recruit someone new. For example, on our last meeting the meta we recruited brought people from the dead, he was a necromancer.” 

Frankie fiddle with the hems of her shirt before she looked up again. “Don’t stand up, please.” 

Frankie rolled her shoulders again and the next second all of the metal in the building started to twist and bend. The supporting beams started to float bringing pieces of debris with them and if a few seconds they were sitting bellow a metal roof that was as dangerous as it was beautiful. 

The metal in the building had levitated and now covered the cafe they were sitting on, the structure resembling the mouth of a dangerous beast of some sort. 

“Telekinesis.” Andrea whispered as she looked at the cavern with awe. 

Frankie shook her head, “Magnetism.” 

If she was honest, Abdera didn’t care about how Frances’s power was called. She could only imagine how much damage she could induce in the city, how much she would terrorise people as all metal object around them started to levitate or worse, threaten to kill them. 

“You are welcome on the team, Frances.” Abdera stated. 

Frances looked at her with bewildered eyes, “That’s it? That’s how easily you get in?” 

Abdera looked at Frances with pity and then looked at her sister. Andrea nodded and placed her hands on Frankie’s extended ones. “No. That’s just my cue.” 

As Andrea fiddled with Frankie’s memory Abdera watched intently. Her sister worked with precision and with a lot of effort. When she took her hands off Frankie, she looked like she had just gotten out of bed and Frankie was knocked out on the chair. 

“I envy you and your powers.” 

Abdera smiled lovingly at her sister, “Because I get energy every time I use them?” 

“Basically,” Andrea said sleepily, “you never get tired of them.” 

Abdera smiled. She knew she couldn’t tell her sister. That would destroy Andrea; she would never let Abdera use her powers ever again. If Barry’s theory was correct, and it probably was because Barry was a genius, then she didn’t only get energy from her powers, she could get an overload if she wasn’t careful enough. 

“We will find something bad about them.” Abdera promised, then she took the cup that Frankie had been drinking from and took a sip. It was hot chocolate. She would have to remember that for future dates and coffee shops rendezvous. “Meanwhile, I will drink this, and you will recover the strength you need to help me carry a person to the car.” 

Andrea sighed in agreement and if a few seconds she was gone too. Taken to the and of dreams. Abdera let her fake smile fall and drank the rest of the coffee bitterly. Thinking about Barry had just given her the bitter taste of a reminder that things in her plan weren’t perfect. 

Barry has nowhere to be seen and Abdera was starting to worry. Not because he was going to do something stupid like help the enemy, but because the man was a monster. It takes one to know one, and Abdera had never seen someone with broken eyes like Barry’s. Or someone who reacted as badly as he did. 

She was scared that a monster on the loose would bring more than just trouble for the citizens. 

Abdera sighed and took another sip from the now bitter tasting chocolate and waited for her sister to wake up again, sitting bellow the metal monster and thinking about her creations and demons. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I made Frankie appear here. For those of you who don't know who Frankie is, she is a character in the comics that appears later on, but I just went 'fuck it' and made her appear now. I really like her character and powers; I wanted her in my story so I wrote her. 
> 
> Everybody cheer for Magenta!!!!!


	21. Say Something - Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abdera realises that she made a horrible mistake, and Barry makes a questionable decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics used in this chapter:   
> 'Say Something' A Great Big World 
> 
> Be ready for:   
> Angst  
> Barry crying   
> Barry Making a Terrible Decision   
> Olivarry moment

Abdera paced their apartment that night; she had been thinking about Barry Allen all afternoon, and no it hadn’t been about his charming smile and beautiful green eyes. She knew what the great loss of a person could do to you; she knew what they had probably done, and now she wanted to make sure that the monster they had created was under control. 

The thing was that Barry Allen hadn’t been seen in four days. He hadn’t shown up in the news or showed up at their doorstep, and Abdera was starting to worry. What if they never saw the speedster again? What if he had figured out what they had done and left the team, or worse, joined Oliver’s team?

She could _not_ risk losing Barry Allen, not now, not when they needed him the most. 

That’s how she got the best hacker she knew to go over the thousands of cameras that Barry could have gone through. They saw him walking down the street and then they saw him looking up, he was gone in a flash. They didn’t need to keep looking through the cameras; Abdera had a pretty go idea of where Barry ran to. 

“Hack into the S.T.A.R. Labs security system and show me the feed from that day,” Abider ordered. 

The skinny, white guy who was using the computer looked at Abdera like she was a crazy person, “That might take me hours.” 

Her dark eyes met the man’s bright blue ones with a menacing glare, “I don’t care. You will hack into the security system in S.T.A.R. labs.” 

“I don’t think it’s functional.” The boy argued. 

Abdera sighed in exasperation. “It is. Where do you think The Flash has his operating system?” 

The boy looked at Abdera in bewilderment. “The Flash…?” 

“Oh yes,” Abdera said rolling her eyes, “now get working, or I will have to do something about your incompetence.” 

It had been three hours since she had forced the guy into hacking the system and it had been apparently impossible to do so. The man had rambled about how there had been something like an incredible software installed to backfire every time he tried to get into the system, sending him to different locations, making it nearly impossible for him to hack into the system. It seemed like the person who had made this software also had a sense of humour that Abdera did not appreciate, sending him not only to different places but to a page that was full of people laughing. 

That was until he was able to hack into the system through another way. The S.T.A.R. Labs satellite was connected to the whole system and the person who had programmed the software had forgotten that apparently, or maybe they had left it open frothier kind of people to get it. What he hadn’t been able to in three hours, he did it in less than fifteen minutes when he came up with the idea. 

Now Abdera was watching carefully what had happened that night. The fight had been quick; Barry seemed to have the upper hand in the fight until Oliver stabbed Barry with the strange knives and suddenly Oliver had Barry’s speed, and Barry was forced to walk. 

Then Barry seemed to be torturing Oliver by ripping apart some mask, and he appeared to be winning again until Cisco Ramon came out of nowhere and hit Barry in the back of the head, he fell unconscious and almost immediately Oliver did too.

Abdera slammed her hands on the table and made the kid stop the video. She ran her fingers through her hair and told the kid to get out. She was not in the mood to have other people around. Her hands moved over her face, again and again, messing her makeup, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Barry Allen was in S.T.A.R. labs custody. She now knew that he hadn’t changed side drastically, he had been trying to kill or maim Oliver Queen after all. 

The computer showed the blueprints for S.T.A.R. Labs, and she got an idea. Frankie was going to be useful in a short amount of time. 

Abdera turned around and stared at the door leading to Andrea’s room. She didn’t want to wake her sister, but they had work to do. Getting Barry Allen back couldn’t wait. 

 

-*-

_And I_

_will swallow my pride._

You’re the one

_that I love,_

and I’m saying goodbye

_._

_-*-_

 

Barry heard a small knock and turned around. He wasn’t surprised to find Oliver Queen smiling at him. Of course, he would be smiling, he hadn’t seen the video, had he? Well, it was a shame he was going to have to ruin that smile. 

“If that smile is directed at me, then you better wipe it off your face. I don’t deserve it.” 

Oliver took a step towards the bed and Barry watched him with vigilant eyes. “If you are this detached because of the video then I will tell you that I won’t hold that against you until it happens.” 

Barry sighed, “It will happen sooner or later.” Oliver was now sitting on the bed beside Barry’s bed. He looked like he owned the place even if he didn’t. Oliver Queen was that type of person. when he walked into a room everything seemed to stop doing what it had been doing previously and start revolving around him. “If you don’t drop it for the video then drop it because I’m the person who put tranquillizer into your food so that I could slip away and talk to Gideon.” 

“And now you regret it.” Oliver wasn’t even asking; he didn’t need to. Barry was sure that his face showed how much he regretted going into the Time Room. 

“Is there something like regret times twenty? Because if there is, that’s how I feel right now.” Oliver was now lying on his back, looking at the ceiling and still smiling. It was driving Barry mad. “Why do you keep smiling? Are you drugged or something?” 

Oliver chuckled. “Kind of, the person I like recently told me they liked me back. Before drugging me. But that’s beyond the point.” 

Barry gasped at the man sprawled on the bed and came to a conclusion, “I put too much sedative on the granola bar.” 

Oliver chuckled again. “Probably.” 

“Not probably. Definitely.” 

Oliver hummed in agreement and then seemed to remember something. He sat up and lifted the pillow Barry watched curiously as Oliver grabbed one of the two phones on the bed and walked over to Barry’s bed, sitting down beside the bundle of blankets and pillows that contained Barry inside. 

“This is your phone.” Oliver stated. 

Barry scrunched his eyebrows and looked down at the phone, “Bullshit. My phone was destroyed when I was in the Paradox.” 

Oliver shook his head and turned the phone on; Barry was transported back in time, December 24, 2015, to be precise. He stared at the phone in awe until it turned black and Barry was brought back. 

He looked at Oliver with awe and then Oliver typed in a pattern that was foreign to Barry. He frowned as he tried to remember the last pattern he had had but failed. Oliver handed him the phone, and he saw that the phone wasn’t opened in any messaging app, or the emails, or anything that Oliver might have been interested in. It was opened in the Photos app, and it was showing some of the ridiculous pictures Barry had ever taken. 

He smiled fondly at the memory of the pictures. “God, I thought I would never see those again.” 

Then Oliver scrolled down to the last picture taken, that one was from about a week ago, and Barry didn’t remember taking it. Oliver was laughing, and he could see the blur around the corners that meant he had used his super speed to get the picture. He had this expression like he knew something Oliver didn’t like he had something to hold against Oliver and it was all in the picture. 

Oliver smiled at Barry and took away the phone, “You took that the last night we were together. We had just ‘beaten’ Abdera. You said something that I wish I remembered and it made me laugh for about thirty seconds.” 

Barry felt rage and disappointment building up inside him. Abdera and Andrea had taken everything from him and get him to hate all of this life he had had before the Paradox. He heard Oliver ask him if he was okay before he realised he had been crying for at least a minute. 

No, he was not okay, everything had been taken away from him, and he couldn’t even remember what his everything had been. 

“I’m going to kill Abdera Winters.” He mumbled, and Oliver looked at him sympathetically but didn’t say anything. He wiped away Barry’s tears and gave him a kiss on his temple; he went back to his bed and Barry realised that Oliver had left the cell phone in front of Barry. He looked over at Oliver and made a promise to get him high every so often; he was so much cuter than when he was on his right mind and grumpy. 

He looked down at the phone again, and every good feeling was replaced with rage and sadness as the picture stared up at him like it was mocking Barry. Reminding him of a life that was not filled with anger and devoid of friends. 

Barry felt so drained that he fell asleep in that instant, with blankets draped over his body in the form of a cocoon and phone held tightly like a lifeline. 

It was five in the morning when they were woken up by horrible noises, all of them sounded like there was a car crash going on in slow motion. Barry had been in enough crashes to know what he was talking about. 

Oliver sat up on his bed and turned on the light; they shared a look before jumping out of bed. Oliver was back to his grumpy self, Barry noticed, and he couldn’t decide if he was sad or glad about it. 

They both ran out of the room, but as they ran into the cortex, the world began to tilt. Barry lost his footing and was sure that he was going to hit his head and probably break his skull, but strong arms gripped him and deposed him on the wall, which was now positioned on the floor. 

He stared into Oliver’s blue eyes when he opened his own. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” He lied, he had his heart beating as fast as it had ever beaten and his hands were trembling. 

“Do you know what might have caused this,” Oliver waved his arms around trying to put a name on what was happening, “whatever this is?” 

Barry shook his head, “As far as I know there are no metahumans with telekinesis or magnetism. This must be some technological trick.” 

Oliver frowned, “Is that even possible?” 

Barry bit his lower lip and looked down the hallway. Everything was thrown haphazardly on the ground. Most of the things were either broken or slightly damaged or dented. The damage was severe. “Let's hope it is. Because if it’s not we might’ve just found ourselves in great danger.” 

Oliver nodded and looked down both ends of the corridor then the world tilted away and they rolled to the side. 

“We have to get out of here.” 

Barry couldn’t help it, “Yeah, no shit.” 

They started to walk down the corridor and into the emergency exit in the labs, once every few minutes the structure would shift and then they would be forced to regain their footing. Oliver was healing fast, and Barry wasn’t, he knew why and he wished that the jealousy and anger that flared up in his gut would disappear, but it didn’t. 

He had stolen his super speed after all. There was no denying that. Barry wished that it didn’t have to be like this, he did. He wished he would be the one saving Oliver instead of Oliver saving him. At least then would prove himself to be more than a snarky bitch that always had something rude to say. 

They got to the exit; the glass door had been shattered by various objects that had been hurled against it and from of rotation in the building. 

Oliver was about to jump out of it when Barry placed a hand on his shoulder and told Oliver to look at who was standing in the middle of the parking lot. 

Abdera Winters looked beautiful like she always did. Her hair was braided in a single braid that was thrown over her shoulder and her uniform reminded Barry of the Black Widow outfit in the Marvel franchise. 

The thing was that for the first time in her life Abdera’s beauty was deemed. That had seemed impossible to Barry but apparently it was something that was happening right now. The woman beside her was gorgeous. Blonde hair swept over her shoulders and lean body, like a tigress. But all of that was topped off by the fact that as she controlled the metal in S.T.A.R. Labs, her skin gave off a vibrant violet colour and her eyes shined like Barry had never seen. It was weird, but it drew Barry towards the woman.

“She’s the one controlling the metal,” Barry stated. 

Oliver shot him a look. “I know. What I don’t know is why they are here.” 

There was a lump forming in Barry’s throat. He did know why they were here, and he was not anxious to explain it to Oliver. He also happened to remember what Abdera had told him a few nights earlier. “They are here for me.” 

Oliver looked at him with incredulity. “You contacted them?” 

Barry glared at Oliver, “No, I didn’t contact them. They were looking for me all along.” 

Relief tainted Oliver’s features. “Why would they want you? Didn’t you say you were out of the deal?” 

Barry wanted to go back in time and punch himself in the face. “I didn’t do it in a very diplomatic way.”  _I didn’t actually say ‘I quit’ I said I would be back later._

“Please tell me you didn’t kill anyone.” Oliver pleaded. 

Barry shook his head. “Didn’t feel like killing that night. I did threaten to kill everyone in that house if I ever got the chance.” 

“Why would you do that?”

Barry shrugged and tried to play it cool even if on the inside he was dying. He knew exactly what he needed to do because if he didn’t do it, they would destroy both cities without a second thought.  A lot of pain was coming for the people in the cities if he didn’t play the villain, and he knew that regardless of how dangerous it might be for him and his team Barry needed to play the villain because the pain that these people would suffer was much worse. 

He knew exactly what he should do, but he didn't want to do it. He knew the consequences. He knew what Abdera's threat had been, and he was sure that the woman would carry out her promise, and he would end up having to- having to do whatever she ordered. He now knew that they weren't honest with him. That they made him believe that his family was the enemy and that they would let him believe everything they wanted for as long as they wished. As long as Andrea was around. 

He could just escape with Oliver, but they would notice he was not at S.T.A.R. labs. They would figure out that he had joined everybody else, and then genocide would happen. Besides, he didn't want to make the teams be on the run without anywhere to run to. He needed to turn himself in, regardless of the consequences. 

Playing the villain would also mean killing many people. He didn’t mind that, for most of the people. But there was one person he didn’t want to kill. 

He turned towards Oliver; the wind was ruffling his shirt and the light in the street was blinding white giving the scene the mood of a romance movie. A very tragic romance movie in which the hero fell in love with the villain and the hero tried to ignore the inevitable betrayal that was about to come. 

Oliver seemed to realise what was going to happen before Barry said a word. “No, Barry you can’t do what I think you are going to do.” 

Barry took a step forward, “Ollie…” The nickname tasted like metal in his mouth, but he used it anyway. He needed to try and calm Oliver. “It’s me they want. I won’t risk you or the rest or the city. Not now when we are so close to beating them.” 

 _Lies,_ Something in his mind whispered,  _You_ are  _willing to risk him. You_  are  _willing to kill him as long as you don’t commit genocide._

Oliver at Barry in the eyes. “We are not close to beating them Barry. We don’t even know what Abdera’s weakness is. We have no plan. We have nothing.” 

Barry took a step forward and cupped Oliver’s cheek with his hand. “Gideon if from the future. she will tell you how to beat her and-“ Barry swallowed thickly, “how to beat me.” 

“I can’t fight against you.” 

He wouldn’t have too. 

_Barry stormed out of the apartment at average speed. He didn’t want to use his speed. He didn’t want to awaken the monster inside of him any more than it already was. He wanted to feel normal and relaxed just once._

_Of course, that was too much to ask for apparently. Abdera caught up with him very fast. He turned around and her fist connected with his face immediately. He deserved that, so he didn’t even feel a little bit of anger towards the older woman as she snarled at him._

_“You nearly choked my sister to death.”_

_“Nearly,” he replied, “that’s the magic word in your sentence.”_

_Anger flashed through Abdera’s eyes, and she grabbed the coat and pushed Barry against the wall. “I will let you go for now Allen. But when I come looking for you, you better be ready.”_

_“For what?" Barry spat back, “Are you going to kill me? I think that would be doing me a favour.”_

_“No,” Abdera leant over his shoulder and pressed her lips to his ear, “I will make you  hunt down and kill Oliver Queen, then hang him on the flagpole that holds up the national flag so that everyone will see him bleed out on the street.”_

_Barry’s breathing hitched. He didn’t doubt this woman would do that._

He needed to turn himself in regardless of the consequences. He was sure that Oliver could beat him in a fight anytime.

“When we meet next time I won't go easy on you Oliver,” Barry said, and Oliver chuckled. Barry wished he hadn’t. Barry wished he had pushed Barry of the edge and made him die before he could do what he was about to do. 

“I will kick your ass.” 

“Hey!” Barry said in mock hurt. 

Oliver shrugged, “It's got to be real." 

Barry laughed in hysteria. He couldn’t believe that he was going to do what he was going to do. He had fallen in love all over again in the brief time that he and Oliver had been together, talking and showing Barry that Oliver was not the only one with humanity left inside of him. Now he was going to kill the man he loved by going with Abdera. All of the times Oliver had said Barry had some humanity in him were proven wrong by this decision. 

He joined their foreheads and looked into Oliver’s eyes. For an eternity they were quiet, looking into each other’s eyes and saying a thousand things they couldn’t say. At least that’s what Oliver was doing; Barry was just saying that he was sorry in every way he could possibly think of. 

“We will get through this together.” 

Oliver’s words were a taunt spoken with the sweetest intentions; a lie meant to be as truth. Barry closed his eyes and decided that he would punish himself for what he was going to do. 

His punishment was going to be more painful than ripping off a finger or fasting for days without end. His punishment would be more dangerous than walking into a battlefield unarmed or putting a knife through his chest. His punishment would be deserving of a person who was going to do what he was going to do. 

Oliver’s lips tasted like love would taste like. Or that’s what Barry though his lips tasted like. They were soft and warm, something like what Oliver was when he wasn’t pretending to be a cold-blooded vigilante. 

The moments that they shared in that position were precious to Barry and Oliver, but to Barry they were also something more than precious. 

While Oliver interpreted the kiss as hope and a promise of safety, Barry interpreted it as his punishment. A penalty made out of false hopes and last kisses. A sentence meant to last a lifetime even if the kiss just lasts a few minutes. The punishment of someone you love dying in front of your eyes while you are the one guilty of their deaths. 

Barry was gone in a gust of wind and he leant out of the broken door. He didn’t care about his tears; he could easily blame them on the hundreds of scratches and wounds that littered his body. Abdera told her friend to bring Barry down and as the piece of metal hovered over to him he stepped on it with grace. 

Abider tilted her head once he touched the ground. Scanning him with curious eyes and then when he looked up, she surged forward and grabbed both of his arms, looking into his eyes with concern. 

“Barry, what happened?” 

He closed his eyes, and two fat tears rolled down his cheeks. He then remembered the gruesome wound on his side, and he only had to lift his shirt to make the perfect lie. He heard Abdera gasp. 

“It hurts like hell.” He complained even though that’s not what was hurting. He opened his eyes and looked at Abdera with a smirk. “Thanks for saving me, though. They treat their prisoners like rats in there.” 

S.T.A.R. Labs fell to the ground once Abdera ordered the girl to drop it. Columns of dust and soot fell from the damaged building and if Barry hadn’t been searching for the streak of lighting he would’ve missed it. Oliver had this fascinating colour of lighting that was as white as the moonlight. 

“I bet they did treat you like rats; they are cruel that way,” Abdera said sympathetically. “Are you ready to go back home?” 

Barry looked at S.T.A.R. labs one last time and then looked at Abdera, whatever he had left inside of S.T.A.R. Labs wasn’t important. “As ready as one can be.” 

 

He cried himself to sleep that night when he remembered he had left his phone laying on the bed when he and Oliver had decided to investigate the noise. He had left something very important back at S.T.A.R. labs, and now it was just ruins and broken promises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yes. I just went there. Now you know what Barry's decision was, how horrible it was if he decided to do that and what he will have to do because of his decision. 
> 
> Happy suffering, I love you all.


	22. Bohemian Rhapsody - Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations are made, and a plan is carried out. Everything seems to be pointing towards the defeat of the heroes until an unlikely source of help comes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used:   
> 'Good Girls' By Elle King  
> 'Rise' Katy Perry 
> 
> Title Song:   
> 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Queen

> November 26, 2016 
> 
>  

 

The suit and tie were not helping Barry’s mood. Why he needed to wear the clothes was beyond him. Abdera had promised he would understand the moment the meeting started, but that seemed to be far away from the moment. 

He scratched his neck nervously and sat as far away from Abdera and Andrea as he could. They were alone on the table, waiting for the three other guests to arrive, and while they seemed to have endless topics of conversation Barry couldn’t utter a word. There were too many thoughts on his mind, too many things that he needed to think about, too many actions he regretted. 

He kept glaring at the other people in the restaurant absentmindedly and thinking about everything that had happened on his brief stay on S.T.A.R. Labs. He felt a low pressure on his arm, and he grabbed the arm on instinct and pinned it to the table.  

Andrea looked at him with wild and scared eyes, and he looked back at her with apologetic eyes, “I’m sorry, I’ve been feeling weird ever since they took away my speed.” 

He let go of Andrea’s arm, and she reached to touch his temple, “Do you want me to erase the fact that you were a speedster from your memory?” 

He flinched away from her hand, “No, I'm all right, I think I just need some air.” 

He was about to stand up when Abdera placed a hand on his arm, “Our guests are here.” 

Barry settled down and looked up to find himself looking at none other than Rainbow Raider, and if Barry had been tense before he now felt ready to snap. He was sure Bivolo was planning how to murder Barry just by his body language. He snarled at him and then looked at Abdera, “You brought us here to negotiate with the enemy?” 

Abdera could have answered, but Barry didn’t want her to. He needed to make sure they all thought he was most definitely _not_ the enemy, “I’m sorry if I ever locked you down on the pipeline, but I assure you Unicorn, right now I’m not your enemy.” 

Roy frowned at Barry, “According to Lisa; The Flash was a sweetheart. What the hell let her believe that?” 

Barry smirked, he should be given an Oscar or something like that, “Oh I’m no longer the Flash. Being good sucks if you ask me.” 

Roy leant over the table, most likely taking the cocky tone as a threat, “Are you making fun of us?” 

Barry leant forward and let all of the bad emotions he ever had ruled him over. The weight of the negativity and the anger settled on his chest like poison, making it hard to breathe but lacing every word with deadly poison. Just what he needed at that moment, “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me, _Rainbow Raider_? That’s what they call you, right? I think I have a name that suits you better.” 

Roy tried to start speaking again but Barry placed a finger to Roy’s lips. 

“Why don’t you tell me if I am making fun of you, you are the real villain after all.” 

“Barry,” he heard Abdera say, “Back off.” 

But he couldn’t do that just yet; he needed to make sure everyone knew he wasn’t going to make friends in this group, that he, Barry Allen, was worse than the Flash they remembered. He would make their lives miserable in this life and the next. 

Or that’s what his instils were telling him to do. His bottled up anger was telling him to make everyone go to hell. His bottled up sadness was telling him that he didn’t need any more sadness that could come, not when he had just doubled the amount of grief the night before. And most importantly his body was asking for him to let it feel all of those emotions and act on them.  

 “Question me ever again, and you will wish you were still in that pipeline, under the protection of Team Flash.” 

He sat down and Abdera glared at him, but he couldn’t care less. His goal was achieved. 

“What the hell did you do to that poor boy?” Roy asked once he was settled down like Barry couldn’t hear him. Like he wouldn’t give their plan away to Barry if he didn’t know already. He needed to act like he didn’t know like his bitterness was directed to Oliver and his team, not to them. 

“They didn’t do anything, Unicorn. I turned towards this side of the fight on my own.” 

Roy could have answered, and Barry would have started to make Roy’s life impossible from the start of the evening, but Abdera spoke first. “So, you said you had an idea to share with us.” 

Roy cleared his throat and fixed his eyes on Abdera, “Yes I do,” He stated, “And I think you are gong to like it.” 

Abider smirked at Roy, “Does it involve making people feel inferior to us?” 

Roy licked his lips, “You know that’s what my plans are all about.” 

 

-*-

Since I'm gonna go to hell anyway

I'll go out with a bang, bang, bang

Crash and burn it all away

-*-

 

The station was busier than ever when Shawna transported Barry into the station. He was nervous as he could get to be, and felt like the world would crumble on him the moment that he started speaking, but why would he be nervous when he was going to be doing next to nothing? 

He took in a deep breath and stepped forward, the railing had been clouding the view, everyone was there. By everyone, he meant all of his team. Nobody had noticed them yet, and Barry wanted to stay like that forever, but that was not his part of the plan. 

 

_“We need a distraction,” Barry told everyone once Roy had stated the plan he had. “If Only one or two of us enter the station and threaten them we can make them believe that we are there for something else.”_

_“Are you offering yourself?” Shawna asked._

_Barry looked at her, “And since you asked you will be the one taking me in.”_

_“I liked you better as the Flash.”_

_Barry smiled coldly, “Everybody likes me better as the Flash.”_

 

“Good afternoon ladies and gentleman.” Barry declared as he gathered the enough courage to speak. The station seemed to freeze; everyone turned to look at Barry. “We are here to declare war on you.” 

Oliver had his gun pointed at Barry in a flash, but Barry had learned the rough way that a speedster was not faster than a tele-transporter. Shawna took Oliver’s gun and was back besides Barry before he could even react. 

“Does anyone else want to try to point a gun at us?” 

 

_“We can take bulletproof vests, which will cover most of our body,” Barry stated._

_“Do you want to use bulletproof helmets too?” Shawna asked sarcastically._

_“Are you telling me that you are unable to teletransport when you hear a gunshot?” Barry asked her. “Or take away someone’s gun when they take it out?”_

_“If they shoot us I will leave you behind.”_

_Abdera slapped the table and glared at Shawna, “Leave him behind, and you will have to face me.”_

 

Shawna handed the gun to Barry hesitantly. He took it and noticed that it still had the safety on. He smiled, “Poor ass still feels guilty about stealing my speed. He couldn’t even bring himself to aim a gun at me without the safety off.” 

“Allen,” He heard Captain Singh bark, “What the hell do you think you are doing?” 

He took the safety off the gun and looked up at Singh with an eyebrow raised. “Are you deaf or did you choose to ignore me? Because I just stated very  clearly that I was here to declare war on all of you.” 

“What happened to you?” 

Barry sneered. If he was honest, he was starting to hate that question even more than _‘are you okay?’._ “You see, there is a group of people that stole something from me. Something very precious. And I am here to get my revenge.” 

 

_“That’s a nice plan,” Nimbus stated, “But you need a reasonable explanation for wanting your revenge. I mean, good guys just don’t turn bad because one day they decided they wanted to change sides. Especially not someone like the Flash.”_

_“What about using your speed as a motive?” Lisa offered. “I mean, I know I would be mad if someone took away my gun. I can’t imagine what you must feel without your speed.”_

“Look, I’m sure that we can try and get back what they stole from you. Declaring war on us is not the answer.” Singh pleaded. 

 _“We are in,”_ Barry heard Lisa say through his earpiece, _“Keep them distracted, sweetheart.”_

“Oh but Captain, the thing is that you can’t give me back what they took. Unless you have some Super Speed collector that you can inject on Oliver, take out my speed from his system and give it back to me.” 

Singh frowned, “You are-?“ 

Barry smiled, “The Flash, yes, I was. Until a bunch of assholes made me realise  that the dark side is much more appealing when everyone you trust turns against you.” 

 

“ _Everyone needs to be focusing on you two,” Mardon stated. “We will be using silencers in our guns, so they won’t notice that we are killing their guards.”_

_Abdera smiled at Barry, “Use Oliver’s identity.”_

_“Who’s Oliver?”  Shawna asked._

_Abdera smiled at everyone on the table “I think we have a perfect diversion.”_

 

Everyone was deadly quiet for a few seconds.   
“Yes, I am talking about you Team Arrow. Turns out the Green Arrow is as much of a hero as we all thought he was at first, just as much of an asshole as his alter ego, Oliver Queen.” 

He saw Oliver jaw clench, and he knew he had caught everyone’s attention. The Green Arrow and The Flash revealed? Oh, they were loving this spectacle. 

“And my ex-foster family, the Wests. You should have seen how easily they threw me out when I made a mistake.” 

Joe moved to say something but Barry raised his hand to make him stop. “I’m not done ranting Joseph. I still have to diss Team Flash and Arrow.

Let's start by making them realise that they should be careful with who they trust. It turns out your Mrs.Diggle wasn’t as trustworthy as you all thought she was. I find it very sad that A.R.G.U.S.  directors are liars and scumbags.” 

 _“Abdera is heading towards your location,”_ Barry heard Andrea say through his ear piece, _“Get ready to run.”_

 

_“Now,” Andrea said, “How are you going to get out of there? Oliver is a speedster after all.”_

_Abdera shifted making the map on the table move a little bit. “That would be my job.” She took the marker that represented her and handed it to Barry. “Mark the fastest way to get from the armoury to the cortex.”_

_He closed his eyes for a second, remembering all of the times when he had crossed the corridors of the precinct. “There is a room,” He said marking a path from the armoury to the rest zone, “It has a back door. Usually, the back doors of rooms would be locked, but this room has to be opened in case of emergency. You can pass through the door and end up in the cortex immediately.”_

_“It would take me about a minute to get to you and cause a distraction.”_

_Barry nodded, “Then Shawna and I make our escape.”_

_“What about you?” Asked Andrea, “How will you get out?”_

_Barry acted immediately. “Your friend the hacker is going to be monitoring the cameras, right?”_

_“Her friend the hacker is right beside you.” The scrawny guy commented, but Barry didn’t pay much attention to him._

_“I’m sure that he could hack into the elevators’ control panel and make them shut and open whenever you need them too.”_

_“It would take hours to hack into everything that you are asking me to. It would be easier if I just stayed behind. I’m willing to sacrifice myself for the team.” He stated._

_Barry rolled his eyes and faced him; sneer planted on his face. “I know what you are trying to do computer rat. You won’t leave the team until we tell you can leave the team. Besides, the other team has a person that can do everything we asked you to do in less than fifteen minutes, so you better step up your game.”_

 

 _“_ It seems like we can’t even trust heroes these days.” Barry finished, and the room was deadly quiet. Suddenly three very slow claps resonated across the room. Everyone turned towards the sound. 

Abdera exited the room with an amused smile that was directed at Barry while everyone else’s eyes were turned towards her. “Just like I told you. Incredibly cheesy and captivating. Someone, please give this man an Oscar.”

An aura of confusion spread through the crowd as everyone looked between Abdera and Barry. Abdera rolled her eyes like she couldn’t believe how stupid all of these people were. “Real life is not a movie. In real life, villains don’t have cheesy dialogues and evil laughs. If any of us ever do that is because they are either crazy or trying to call attention.” 

“Like we just did. I distracted you with a stupid rant, and we left you unarmed.” Barry explained, and fog that had settled in the minds of everyone started to lift. The captain growled with anger and before he could give out any commands Barry turned around, shot the window three times and then grabbed Shawna’s shoulders. They were transported outside to the top of a building infant of the precinct and Barry turned his comm on. “Gerard open the elevator.” 

There were thirty seconds of silence and then the IT responded to Barry. “ _She’s safe. And my name is not Gerard_.” 

“Does it matter?” 

 _“Boys stop arguing.”_ Demanded Lisa.   
“Are you out of danger?” He asked the youngest Snart. 

 _“We are.”_ Confirmed Lisa. _“We didn’t leave anything behind.”_

“Abdera are you out?” 

Ten seconds of silence passed. 

Twenty seconds of silence. 

Thirty seconds. 

Forty seconds. 

Barry started to get hopeful about the bitch dying in the process and leant over the edge of the rooftop, hoping not to see her. “Abdera?” 

Then a young woman defended the steps and Barry sighed. It might have sounded like a relief to others but for him, it felt like a defeat. 

“ _I’m safe,”_ She stated, “ _I also appear to be the only one who can dress properly on this street.”_

 

-*-

 

I won't just survive  
Oh, you will see me thrive  
Can't write my story  
I'm beyond the archetype

-*-  
  
The flurry of movement that followed the attack didn’t include Oliver. He stayed looking up at the place that Barry had been seen last, and David Singh didn’t want to see the terrible look on the younger man’s face. A look of not only betrayal but confusion. 

He also couldn’t stand how people were avoiding him like he was the plague. Sure, the man had killed a few people as his vigilante persona, but the guy was a hero. If David were the owner of Jitters, he would make sure not only to have a ‘Flash’ coffee but also a ‘Green Arrow’. 

In short story David felt pity towards the man in many different ways, The public knew how Green Arrow and Flash were crime fighting buddies; it must be horrifying to see your partner switch sides. 

David bit his lip and then decided he wouldn’t let this poor guy suffer alone on the middle of a police station. “Queen.” 

The man turned his head and looked at David with questioning eyes. He beckoned Oliver to come with him to his office and the man obliged without a doubt. Once he entered the office, followed closely by the former mayor of Star City David closed the door. 

He wanted to say something to calm the man but before he could speak Oliver interrupted. “I know that it looks like Barry has become a villain, but it was against his will.” 

“He seemed very happy with being forced to be a villain,” David stated looking at Oliver. Trying to figure out where the eagerness to defend a villain came from. 

“He was forced to be a villain by a metahuman that controls memory,” Oliver explained. The pleading tone of voice was something David didn’t expect, and for the first time in his life, he noticed who wore down Oliver Queen was. This was destroying him inside out. The man who seemed to have his life presented to him on a silver platter was suffering because of someone else. That’s something David thought he would never see. “She changed his memory, making him cold and unforgiving, but the Barry we all know, the Barry we all love, is still there.” 

The Barry we all love. _Oh_.   
Singh rolled his shoulders and looked at Queen. He never thought that he would have anything in common with the former Playboy, especially not something so intimate and so out of character for the oldest Queen sibling. 

“Explain.” 

Oliver’s shoulders seemed to relax. The night of the particle accelerator explosion three siblings were affected. Andrea, Andrew and Abdera. Andrew and Abdera were affected in similar ways according to Cisco; they can both control atoms because of a mix of alcohol and drugs that were in their system the moment of the particle accelerator explosion. But there was a third sibling that can control memory. Apparently, she was cheating on her exams, and she had taken this memory-enhancing  pill that night-“ 

“And that gave her powers over memory.” David finished. “Yes I know how they were all affected, but what happened to Barry Allen?” 

“We trusted Andrea and her brother Andrew. He turned out to be great, but she betrayed us.” Oliver told him. “We had supposedly caught Abdera that night and Barry, and I went to sleep early. Andrea took her sister out of prison and took Barry because of something I said a few days earlier. I joked about how screwed we would be if Barry became a super villain.” 

“And he became one.” 

Oliver grimaced and nodded. 

“It’s not your fault, you know.” 

Oliver crossed his arms over his chest, “How is it not my fault? I gave her the idea. I trusted her. Then we trapped him, and I trusted him. I let him get to me. I let him use my love to him against me and then he stole all of our weapons. Left us alone, and gave me the most useless piece of advice that gave me hope that he was on our side so that I would let him run off with his little girlfriend and plan the death of the two cities I love the most and everyone I care about. 

It was my fault that we had to pay dead in the first place. It was my fault that everything went to shit because I trusted three people I shouldn’t have.” 

David frowned. “But you only trusted two of the three siblings.” 

Oliver shook his head, “Abdera Winters contacted me a few days before everything went down hill. She said she was a metahuman that needed help. That she had just discovered her powers, and she needed the Green Arrow and the Flash to take her in before someone else did. We let her in; we showed her everything we had, I even trained her and gave her some valuable hero rules.  Then, when she was satisfied she nearly killed Barry and me and promised to be in Central City, destroying it while Barry was in Star City.

I ran into her a few days later, and I made a deal. She wouldn’t kill Barry and me but as long as we disappeared from the face of the earth. I agreed as long as she acted like the deal never happened. Like it had been her plan all along to make us disappear. I tricked my friends into believing that I didn’t know anything about Abdera’s plan only because I wanted Barry to be safe.” 

“Protecting the ones you love is honourable.” 

“But most times it’s not the right thing to do.” 

David Singh was a man of honour, not righteousness, and if he were honest that would be exactly was he would have done if he had been in Oliver’s position.

“I think that the only way to protect him now is to fight this war with everything we’ve got,” David suggested. 

“We’ve got nothing. They just stole all of our weapons, probably murdered at least ten officers and demoralised the whole police force.” 

“We’ve got three CSI all specialised in how explosives are made and knowledge of every single thing we could use as a weapon. We have nineteen police officers that know three hundred ways to kill a person without the use of a gun, and we have two hackers that can do almost everything with a good internet connection. And we have the rest of the police force which is ready to give their lives fighting for this city. That doesn’t seem like nothing.” 

If the silence was anything to go by Oliver was impressed by the speech David had just given. But he was not finished yet. He was yet to reveal their most important weapon to Oliver. 

“Besides, we have the Green Arrow. That guy can kill a man with a spoon.” 

Oliver chuckled and looked at David like he was trying to figure a very complicated puzzle. 

“You are very good at pep talks.” 

“That’s why I was made the captain of the police force.” David joked, “Because I give great pep talks.” 

But the time for jokes was over if Oliver’s eyes were anything to go by. A certain fierceness that he had only seen in Barry’s eyes filled Oliver’s eyes to the brim. 

 _We will need to fight this war with all we have_. A bitter taste filled his mouth at the thought of Abdera hurting anyone as much as she had hurt Barry. He thought about how it must feel to be Oliver in this situation, and he tried to picture his husband talking instead of Barry. 

He pitied Abdera, because if Oliver loved Barry as much as he loved his husband, then Abdera Winters was in trouble.     

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating. I really am. I have been travelling for a long time through Australia and this chapter and the previous one were the ones that I was able to type while being on the plane. Sorry again. I hope you liked it.


	23. Chapter 21-Sucker for Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They decide to play the cards they have and use Iris as a way inside of Abdera's central base. There Iris discovers that she might have more allies than she expected and the chemistry of the team is starting to fall apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Psycho' by Muse  
> 'Sucker for Pain' Various Artists (Seriously guys, I'm not writing all of them)

> 27 November, 2016 

 

The next day Oliver arrived at the CCPD without his usual public outfit. It had taken everyone to convince Oliver to go home that night after Captain Singh told everyone to go home.

His eyes were drooping with exhaustion because of the weird trance Andrea had put him under, but he kept going. Iris noticed how in a day people could change. First, he had been getting happier and had started to become the old Oliver; the one Iris had befriended a few moths before in this mess of a battle they had been having with Abdera. 

Then Barry happened, and she didn’t fail to see the sadness that was oozing from her friend. 

She could feel it coming, the refusal from Oliver’s side to let any of them help him in any way. Especially the ones who had no training as heroes such as Iris or Caitlin, so when it was the time to make plans Iris made sure that she would speak before Oliver did. She would volunteer before Oliver could say anything and she would not let Oliver protect her. She had enough of that with Barry and Joe. 

What she didn’t expect was to be the person that everyone wanted to use as bait. 

“Abdera and Andrea would never destroy a family unless it’s completely necessary,” Andrew stated once he explained that if they wanted to have insight on the compound, they would need Iris. “They might hurt her or change her memories, but they would never kill her.” 

“How is that supposed to make me feel any better?” Joe demanded. “They already destroyed one of my sons. I don’t want them hurting my only daughter.” 

“Except they won’t hurt her at all,” Felicity said, “Iris is no use to them. She’s not a metahuman; she doesn’t know half of the things that happen inside S.T.A.R. Labs, and she doesn’t know a thing of what happens on our team. She is practically useless. No offence, by the way.” 

“None taken,” Iris answered nonchalantly, even though she was very hurt by the fact that Felicity was right, “Besides, Barry wouldn’t hurt his family, regardless of how much he has changed, there are some lines nobody is ever going to make him cross.” 

Oliver grimaced and shook his head, “Yeah, Iris that is not happening.” 

Diggle glared at Oliver, “Oliver you are _not_ going to decide who goes on this mission.” 

“I’m trying to protect both Iris and Barry,” Oliver defended himself, “we don’t know what kind of things this new Barry is capable of doing. We don’t know for sure if Abdera and Andrea are as honourable as Andrew says they are. How would you feel if you discovered that you murdered someone you cared about, Dig?” 

“It’s not your decision to make, Oliver.” He countered.

“I’m with Ollie on this one,” Thea said, “not being able to control your actions is something that nobody wants to go through. Murdering someone you care about is a kind of pain I don’t want anyone feeling if I can stop it, so Iris I am not letting you go on this mission.” 

Iris clenched her jaw, “Well as Diggle said it’s not your decision to make. I know it might be selfish for me to want to infiltrate that building, but it’s a risk I am willing to take. I don’t care if I hurt my brother, six million _lives_ are at stake, and sadness and regret are things that I think Barry would be willing to exchange for the opportunity to save both cities.” 

There was a long silence in which everyone was weighing their options. Then Caitlin spoke, “I think sadness and regret are things we are all willing to have if it means saving our cities.” 

 

-*-

_I could use someone like you_

_Someone who'll kill on my command_

_And asks no questions_

-*- 

 

The prototypes that were attached to Iris’s eyeball were as uncomfortable as the contact lenses she had once used on a Halloween to change her eyes colour from brown to red. She knew that this time, her eyes didn’t look abnormal, but they had something even more unsettling than a colour change. 

There was something about everyone in her team being able to see everything she saw that made her skin crawl and uneasiness turn her blood cold. 

She could sense Oliver perched on the rooftop above her, looking at her with calculating eyes as she leant casually against the wall of the building and took out a cigarette. 

It had been years since she had smoked a cigarette, but the calm and edgy mask that the simple object gave her was something they needed. Oliver needed to scan the area; he needed to tell her when Barry came out of the building and headed in her general direction. After three days of stalking the building’s outside, they had learned that Barry was on patrol every single night after ten. 

She hadn’t had the chance to talk to her newly changed brother, but just the way he had been walking and the constant expression of disgust and anger that he wore on his face reminded her that this was an entirely different person. Her Barry always smiled. 

Her Barry had this light spring to his step that made him seem happy even when he wasn’t. 

Her Barry was everything this new person was not. 

Her mind started to drift down a dark hole of thoughts about many things regarding her brother and the person who was looking over the perimeter, waiting to warn her about the approach of Barry. Maybe it was nicotine triggered, or maybe it was triggered by the fact that she was starting to look at things in a much darker way, but her mind drifted to the fact that they were not saints. 

Not Oliver, who started his journey as the Arrow by killing and robbing instead of defending people. Who had admitted being a horrible person more than once. Who had put countless victims to the hospital. And the morgue.

And not Barry, who had an incredible body count considering the fact that he had tried not to kill anyone. Joe knew, Iris knew, everyone knew except Barry that there had been one too many times where his speed was not measured, and neither was his strength and the people he had supposedly knocked out died. Barry who had killed one too many criminals in high-speed chases and who had killed many metahumans just so that he could stop them. 

Not that Iris was complaining about having either of the heroes, but in that moment she realised that both cities were protected by two people who had murdered more people than she could count. 

Iris dropped the cigarette she had been about to put in her mouth for the fifth time when her comm crackled to life. That’s the moment she heard faint footsteps. 

“ _Barry is coming your way Iris_ ,” Cisco said, “ _You better start picking that lock right now._ ” 

Iris didn’t need to be told twice, and as the cigarette smoke begun to disperse she turned around and started to pick the lock with the universal key Cisco had given her. The key wasn’t supposed to work, universal keys didn’t work 90 percent of the times, but as she heard a faint click she frowned in annoyance. Was she in? 

Then rattled the lock and realised that the door was in fact not open. 

It took her a second to realise that there was someone behind her, and that the clicking sound had been to loud to be coming from the door. 

“Drop the key, Iris.” Barry said, “And don’t think about getting out any weapon, there are three cameras that will alert everyone that you are here.” 

She cursed as she felt the gun barrel being pressed against her skull but as Barry leaned over her shoulder, the shoulder that had her comm device, her blood run cold. Until he pressed his mouth to her comm and whispered, “If I am forced to shoot you, play dead.” 

Then took out her earpiece and made a show of throwing it far away from where they were standing, when he put it in his pocket for later. She felt him grab her arms and put them behind her back, intertwining her fingers with his before making her turn around and taking her to the main entrance. There was a padlock that unlocked the main door and Iris blinked three times to start recording the number sequel Barry used. She blinked three more times to stop recording and squeezed Barry’s hand. 

“Do you care to tell me why you were smoking?” He asked once they started to  climb some stairs. 

She blinked three times again, “Do you care to tell me why _you_ care?” 

The only things that showed him she was trembling was the fact that they were holding hands. He tried to assure her by squeezing her hand before giving her an empty threat, “Let’s get one thing straight, West,” he snarled, “the only one allowed to be rude here is me. Now, why don’t you answer my question?” 

She grimaced and trembled involuntarily. This didn’t go unnoticed, but they both needed to keep their act up, “Stress smoking. Not that it’s any of your business though.”  

There was three steps left of the long staircase, then Iris saw a door at the end of a long corridor. The building had to be habited, judging by the light that spilled from under several doors along the hallway walls, but nobody was complaining about the noise that was coming from the door at the end of the hall. 

She finished climbing the steps and Barry let go of her hand, then pushed her roughly against the wall. He was wearing a tight black shirt and a leather jacket, both of them black, and she couldn’t look down to see what kind of pants he was wearing because he pressed his arm to her neck with enough strength to make her choke but not asphyxiate, “Listen to me Iris West, you will make no sound, regardless of what happens, and you will not speak to anyone unless you are spoken too.” 

She could see how Barry was different in this new environment. Anger filled his eyes to the brim and he was wearing an expression she hadn’t seen him use. Something like cold rage and bitterness. But there was something behind his eyes that only a few people would have spotted, uncertainty and a cry for help. This didn’t make him less scary, or made her calmer. They only manage to make her fear for the life and sanity of her older brother. 

“There’s an alarm system on all the building and if one of your friends breaks in it will alert every single metahuman resident in this building. Let me tell you, Oliver might be fast now, but no one is fast enough to save you from everything that will happen.” 

She remembered what Abdera and Barry said in the police station. _If someone has a monologue it’s because they are either distracting you or trying to call your attention._ She looked at him in the eyes and she understood. There is an alarm system in the building, and three cameras outside, she needed to remember that. 

He turned her around and grabbed her wrist. Then dragged her all the way to the end of the corridor. He opened the door and she had to take a sharp breath to abstain from gasping loudly. The room was dimly lit and there were four chairs arranged around a last and larger one. That was not the horrifying part of the room. 

Abdera was lounging on one of the chairs on the left side of the room and looming over a person was Andrea. The person in the chair was the one that gave Iris the chills. Their eyes were glowing with bright white light and their back and head were arched back in pain. 

Only a few sounds were coming from the figure on the chair and all of them were whimpers and groans of pain. 

Barry cleared his throat and Andrea stopped touching the other person. she looked ready to faint and really annoyed by the fact that someone had interrupted her torturing session. The other person’s head rolled to the side and Iris couldn’t help but whisper the woman’s name. Whatever they had been doing to Lisa Snart had left the thief drained, and had left Iris terrified. 

“I told you to knock,” Andrea chided Barry. 

He rolled his eyes, “I told you that everyone already knows you are a giant bitch, there is no need for you to hide it.” 

Anger flared in Andrea’s eyes but Abdera spoke, “You are both ignoring the most important thing here,” She said, cutting off their fight, “Barry has brought us a very important person.” 

Barry tightened his grip on her wrist, “She was trying to sneak into the building.” 

“You should have let her,” Andrea replied, crossing her arms over her chest, “The security system would have killed her.” 

Barry turned to Andrea again, “Oh I should’ve?” he made a tsk-ing sound, “Sorry I’m not fond of letting a sixteen year old take away all the calcium in her bones. Or did you mean the security guard who can turn her blood to acid? I’m sorry, I always get confused by which brainwashed minion you are referring to.” 

She stepped forward and the room was small enough that she came to stand face to face with Barry, “I was talking about the one that can drain her life force away, make her feel like she is choking right before her brain stops working and so does her heart, that’s your favourite way to kill after all.” 

Barry surged forward, his fist was about to connect with Andrea’s face when at the same time Iris and Abdera pulled them apart. 

“That’s enough,” Abdera snarled, “both of you. You are acting like little children.” 

Andrea turned towards her sister, “At least let me get back at him. Let me leave the girl without any memories.” 

“Not my sister, you bitch,” Barry growled, “I might hate her, but I won’t let _you_ lay a finger on her.” 

“And she won’t,” Abdera promised, shutting Barry up, “but she is not getting out of this building alive. Not after what she saw. Not after what _you two_ let her see.” 

“I won’t let you kill her either.” 

Abdera looked at Barry with raised eyebrows. Questioning why he was not okay with killing Iris, “Why would you want the person who disowned you to be kept alive?” 

Barry smirked, “I thought you knew better Abdera. There are worse things than death.” 

Andrea raised her eyebrows, “You sick bastard.” 

“Andrea,” Abdera snapped, “Shut up. Please.” 

Barry cleared his throat, “I’m not asking you, Abdera. I’m going to take Iris in and I will make her tell me everything she knows. Then I will make sure she is gone, for good.” 

“You wouldn’t kill your own sister, would you?” Andrea asked. 

“I would rather have to kill her by pulling her eyes out than letting you lay a finger on her and make her go through what you made me go through.” Barry answered. 

Iris was getting annoyed at everything they were doing. Playing the game of who can insult the most, but she wondered what Andrea had made Barry go through, apart from the memory change. They couldn’t know that Barry knew they had changed his memories, they would have refreshed his memories already. 

Abdera sized the fighting pair. They both seemed like wolves, ready to pound and tear each other apart. She cleared her throat, “I want Iris gone in three days. Not a day less, not a day more. I don’t want her to miss what we are going to do.” 

Barry’s eyes turned to Abdera and for a second Iris was very grateful she wasn’t the one under that look. “You know I don’t agree with the idea, Abdera.” 

“I’m going to do it. Whether you like it or not. I need people to beg for my mercy, this is my plan to do it.” 

Iris couldn’t help but turn to Abdera, “Whatever you are going to do, my team is going to stop you. We will make you fear what we are going to do.” 

“Oh, are you?” Abdera asked, “As far as I know, your team has only been able to hide in the city like rats. Your team is nothing against  me.” 

“We have the police force,” 

Iris started and Abdera made a signal for Barry to take Iris away. He didn’t need to be told twice. 

“We have two teams that have been through hell and back,” 

Barry started to drag her out but she wasn’t finished. She needed to make Abdera realise she had the upper hand, but she was not invincible. That there would be a moment in which she could lose, and they were the ones that would bring her down. 

“We have two cities filled to the brim with people that would gouge your eyes out given the opportunity,” 

She knew it was a risk to reveal their plans to Abdera, but there was nothing she could do against powers she had no control over. 

“And we have a portal to another earth. Another earth with another Flash, another Green Arrow, and a shit load of people who would be more than happy to help the people that saved their lives.” 

Everything stopped when Abdera realised that she was not totally in control of everything. The world seemed to stop spinning, and the anger in Iris mixed with the dread that filled the air. 

Cold crept to every corner of the room and It was only then when Iris realised Barry had frozen in place. He was not dragging her away. He was not trying to take her out. He was just frozen with shock. 

Abdera made a face of disgust and the silence that followed her words was mortifying. 

“Let them come, that way I can show you all what I’m really made of.” 

 

-*- 

_I'm devoted to destruction_

_A full dosage of detrimental dysfunction_

_I'm dying slow but the devil tryna rush me_

_-*-_

 

Barry pushed her into the room, and she got the feeling that it was not for show. He slammed the door and cursed loudly. “That was really stupid.” 

“What part? The one where you nearly killed Andrea Winters?” She answered back once she regained her balance. 

“No,” He hissed, “the one where you revealed the whole fucking plan to Abdera Winters.” 

For the first time, Iris was talking to her brother. Like actually talking to him.The person she had once had a crush on. The person who had supported her with everything she had ever done. The person who she had loved more than anyone else. And it seemed like the person she once knew, was gone. 

The mist in her eyes was enough to make her vision blurry and her eyes droopy with sadness. She had gained many friends in her weeks as a volunteer for the people in Central City, but there was only one thing she wanted now, and that was her brother back. 

Barry realised how, at that moment, Iris was hurting, and he took a step forward, hesitantly putting a hand on her arm. “Iris don’t make it harder than it already is. You know I can’t remember anything that happened in the last six months-“ 

“-and what you remember about me is bad, I know.” She sniffled. “I just wish things were different.” 

He grimaced, “I know it won’t be the same. But can I offer a hug?” 

And he was right. It was not the same. Barry never wore leather. Barry’s hugs were less stiff and more suffocatingly sweet. Barry smelled of ozone ever since he gained the speed force and now he smelled of Abdera Winters.

“You smell weird.”  She snickered. 

“Well, that’s something no one had ever told me before.” 

She laughed, “You smell like a burnt out light bulb.” 

He was quiet for a moment. She thought maybe she had offended him, making an involuntary metaphor or something, but when he pulled away, he looked at her like she was a genius. 

“I think I know how to beat Abdera.” 

She frowned, “You do?” 

He nodded and then took a step back. “Abdera doesn’t control the shadows,” 

That’s the moment Iris realised she hadn’t stopped recording and was very grateful for it. “She controls energy, coming from the objects.

The Winters had to be affected in the same way. All of them can control matter in its finest forms. Andrew can control atoms and the distance between them, that’s why he can turn things to liquid and back. Andrea can control the electrical currents that pass between neurones, creating alternate memories powered by actual memories and that’s why all memories she implants are vaguely familiar and are accepted as a reality. 

Abdera controls the energy coming from an object. She controls every single ounce of energy the object has. She overcharges the objects and like a lightbulb that’s about to burn out, they over charge and then they collapse upon themselves.

She is not controlling shadows, just that the matter is so dense and charged that it appears to be black, creating the illusion it’s their shadow. That’s why she can only make objects disappear if they are eaten by their own shadow. Because they are collapsing upon themselves, not being eaten.” 

Iris was confused as hell. Sure she was smart, but what Barry had said made no sense to her. She looked at him with confused eyes and he dug into the pocket of his jacket, taking out the earpiece he had taken from Iris. 

“I need to tell Cisco.” 

“Wait,” She said, wiping the tears from her eyes, “You explained her powers, which I barely understood, but you never said how we could defeat her.” 

He stopped mid track, and she expected to see and excited smile on his face, but then she realised that the maximum she would get was a wry grin that gave her chills easier than it gave her comfort. 

“Abdera takes in all of the energy that the object leaves behind, preventing it from creating a singularity. If we can make her absorb more energy than what her body can process then we can create the same effect on her body.” 

Iris frowned, “Wouldn’t the extra energy create a singularity even worse than the first singularity in Central City?” 

“That’s exactly why I need Cisco; he can make something that will contain the energy from the singularity.” 

Barry refused to smile past that stupid smirk that annoyed Iris even more than his fight with Andrea. But she didn’t care, because as Barry put on the comm and prepared to talk to Cisco, Iris saw hope for the first time in the last month or so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this new chapter. I really liked it. I wrote it using the songs Same Old Love, Kill 'Em With Kindness and Smooth Criminal, so if you want something in the mood of the chapter listen to those three. 
> 
> For my friend Carrot, don't worry, the bad thing that I have been foreshadowing and that you predicted will happen. The last straw, the other shoe, the thing that will make you either really hate the villains (and Barry) on this fanfic, will be foreshadowed in the next few chapters, and then it will happen. 
> 
> I estimate two or three chapters 'till we reach the climax of bad stuff, and enter the big ass fight. 
> 
> I'm sorry for all of the swearing in this chapter, but do you really expect me to believe that villains don't curse like sailors? 
> 
> Anyway, see you next time!


	24. Chapter 22 - Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many things happen at the same time and they are all leading to one big catastrophe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title:  
> 'Scream' By Micheal Jackson 
> 
> Lyrics:  
> 'They Don't Care About Us' By Micheal Jackson  
> 'Kill Your Heroes' by AWOLNATION  
> 'So Far Away' by Mary Lambert  
> 'Closer' by The Chainsmokers  
> 'Migraine' by Twenty One Pilots

> 28 November, 2016 
> 
>  

“This is by far the most ridiculous plan they could’ve come up with,” Caitlin complained. 

Felicity made a face, “Is it, though?” 

Caitlin gave her a look, “Yes. It is. There is no way an angry mob will listen to two girls who are telling them to help someone who left them alone when they needed them the most.”  

“It could be worse,” Felicity countered. 

“ _Girls_ ,” Caitlin heard Oliver say through her earpiece, “ _we need you to stop talking about this. We don’t know who might be overhearing._ ” 

The feeling that Caitlin had been having throughout the night intensified when he said that. The feeling that someone or something was watching her. She knew it was childish, but she wished she could just hold to Felicity’s hand for support. 

“You know your part, right?” She heard Felicity say. Her voice sounded weak and scared. 

Caitlin swallowed, “It’s going to be alright, I think.” 

The loud music from the club made the ground beneath their feet tremble. This was by far the worst plan they could have come up with, but Caitlin had to make it work. It was the best plan they had, the only plan they had, and Caitlin couldn’t throw it in the trash. 

She breathed in and put a brave face on, linked her arm around Felicity’s arm and smiled at her. “I don’t know why we are preoccupied, it’s just Slam, right?” 

“Caitlin, what-?” 

She started walking forward, dragging Felicity. “Come on, Felicity. The party sounds great.” 

Felicity looked at her like she had suddenly grown a third eye. “Weren’t you nervous five seconds ago?” 

All it took was a fake identity card and batting eyelashes for the security guards to let them come through. As they entered the club, Caitlin’s jaw nearly dropped. The amount of people in the club was worrying. All of them were smoking various types of drugs or taking them with their drinks, all of them were very drunk and very high. That wasn’t what made Caitlin feel like this plan was completely hopeless. 

The walls were decorated with one giant graffiti painting. She could recognise at least a forty percent of the people in the graffiti. People like Shawna Baez, like Vandal Savage, like Reverse Flash, painted on the walls all facing a group of people that she quickly recognised as her team. All of them were using their different powers and abilities to fight off the group of villains, but they all looked small compared to the central figures of the painting. 

Barry and Oliver were at least a meter bigger than everyone else. Barry’s face was covered by a flurry of lighting and Oliver’s face was covered by the shadow of his hood. They were fighting against Abdera Winters, who was roughly the same size as they were. Her hands were covered by dark energy that mimicked her control over shadows. 

All of their legs though were covered by hundreds, if not thousands of people. All of them were significantly smaller than the pictures of the Villains and Heroes, All of them were wearing merchandise with the Flash symbol, or the original rough sketch of Oliver’s face as the Green Arrow. All of them were protesting and holding up signs or burning torches. In almost every single sign Caitlin saw the same message, the lyrics for her favourite Michael Jackson song. 

 

**_They don't really care about us_ **

 

Caitlin swallowed. Oh, this was most definitely  _not_  going to work. She looked at Felicity, and she shared the same expression as Caitlin. Worry and something else, something like disappointment. 

Soon they were pushed deeper into the club, and she couldn’t keep the picture out of her mind. She could see how people felt hopeless. Barry and Oliver had made the gigantic mistake of playing dead, of escaping when they should have stayed, and once people discovered that they started to feel like even if they were alive, their heroes were dead. 

Their heroes had preferred to save themselves instead of the city. 

That was not the truth, but people could only see the obvious. They couldn’t see the whole story.   
Caitlin felt a tug on her hand, and she turned around to see Felicity shaking her head, “They won’t listen to us.” She stated, “They lost faith in us. It won't work.” 

Caitlin looked around. She could see various things that upset her. All of the people were drunk and didn’t seem happy about it. They appeared to be doing this out of spite, or maybe to waste what they thought were their last days on earth away. Doing everything, they wouldn’t do if they were to live a lifetime more. 

The taste Caitlin got in her mouth was of blood. She looked around the room once more, and her eyes fell on the part of the mural which demonstrated one single sign that was different from the rest. 

 

**_Kill Your Heroes_ **

 

The slogan gave Caitlin chills down her back, but it also gave her the most amazing idea she had had until this moment. She touched her comm device, and she heard it crackle with an open line. “Change of plans,” She told Oliver, “tell everyone not to convince the crowds to support us, but protests against us.” 

Oliver’s tone of voice suggested he believed she had gone crazy. “ _What?”_

Caitlin cleared her throat, “We need a distraction, not a blood bath,” She stated, “If we tell people to protest against Abdera she  _will_  kill them all. If we tell them to protest against us, she will be more than pleased.” 

“ _She would have every single one of her minions admire her work.”_ Oliver agreed, catching up to her train of thought. “ _It would cause-_ “ He yawned, “ _-A big enough distraction for us to attack._ ” 

“Caitlin you’re a genius,” She heard Felicity say through her comm and beside her. It was weird to hear two Felicitys. 

 _“Carry it out Caitlin,”_ Oliver said,  _“I’ll tell everyone.”_

The comm went dead, but Caitlin hadn’t felt so alive in a very long time. There was a table on the far end of the bar, close to the DJ, and Caitlin headed over to it. She was suddenly very grateful for every time she had decided to join the debates and speech club in her high school. 

She went over to the DJ and tapped his shoulder. He looked up with troubled brown eyes and smiled at Caitlin. “What song would you like to order, sweetheart?” 

Caitlin cleared her throat, “Actually I was hoping you would stop the music long enough for me to give an announcement.” 

He raised his eyebrows, “I don’t think they would be happy about that, honey.” 

“It’s about our current situation,” she insisted, “there are going to be city-wide protests, and I need all of them to know.” 

He sighed and handed her a microphone, “Tell me when you are ready.” 

She nodded and clambered up the table beside his booth. Once she was looking at everyone, she looked around and spotted Felicity on the side of the room. She smiled at Caitlin and then gave her a thumbs up. Caitlin turned towards the Dj and gave  _him_  a thumbs up. 

The music went down slowly, and everyone turned to the DJ, ready to argue until they saw Caitlin standing on the table. The sapphire blue dress she was wearing reflected every light, and suddenly she was very aware that everyone was looking at her. She fixed her eyes on Felicity and tried to picture it was only her looking at Caitlin. 

She took a deep breath, “I’m going to be brief and straight to the point. We have all been stolen our cities, our lives and our dignity. We used to have people to care for us and now not even the mayor cares about his people. We all know that the Green Arrow and the Flash are hiding somewhere in the city, neglecting all of us, just like the picture in this bar. 

If they don't come out voluntarily, we must make them come out. We must make them realise that they are the only ones that can destroy Abdera and that they can’t hide forever and forget about us.” 

The bar was silent; everyone seemed to be waiting for Caitlin to say more, “What do you propose to do, redhead?” A guy asked in the corner. “Fall to our knees and beg for them to save us?” 

Every single pair of eyes turned to Caitlin, and she realised she needed to give then gratification. She needed to provide them with a motive to follow her and her team’s bait. “Of course not,” She assured them, “we are going to riot. We are going to make them turn up, even if that means turning the city to dust.” 

She could feel Felicity’s intake of breath as the whole room exploded into cheers. She could feel them all eager to do something. Anxious to get rid of the feeling of hopelessness that had settled over them. 

Caitlin cleared her throat, “I need you all to call everyone you know. Tell them that we are going to protest. Tell them that next Wednesday after sunset we will scream for their help. Tell them that we are going to turn this city to ashes until  _someone_  does something. Then tell them to tell other people.” 

With each word the excitement seemed to rise and Caitlin knew that they wouldn’t be this excited if they were in their right mind, but people were  _desperate._

For one month they had been caged like animals. They had been threatened to be exterminated more than once. They had been left alone, and the conflict didn’t seem to be closer to getting solved. 

As much as they didn’t want to admit they needed their heroes. Even if mentally they had killed their heroes, they knew no one else could save them. People were so desperate to live that they would tear their city down for the chance to do so. 

Everyone was on the go almost immediately. They all took their cellphones or got their car keys. Caitlin would have stopped them, but she knew that if she tried they would only shoo her away. She had given them a purpose, and they weren’t going to stop now. 

She got down from the table and handed the DJ the microphone.  He smiled at her, “I would show the same excitement but I haven’t slept in three days.” 

She frowned, “You shouldn’t do that. It’s not healthy.” 

“Are you a doctor missy?” She was sure he had meant it in a mocking way, but she smiled sweetly, with smugness painting her face. 

“Yes, I am.” 

 

-*-

_Kiss me like the world is gonna disappear_

_I'm a better person when I have you here_

_-*-_

 

The comm had entered the moment after he had told the rest of his team what they needed to do and both he and Cisco froze. It had been twenty-four hours since Iris had reported herself and when the person who talked greeted them, Oliver felt himself melt with relief.   
“ _Barry to the CCPD, is anyone there?_ ”

Oliver had seen that Iris was safe when he had seen her talk to Barry on the balcony of an apartment. They hadn’t had any contact from then on, but now hearing Barry’s voice was even more of relief. It made them realise that maybe he hadn’t been messed with. Oliver cleared his throat, “Yes Barry, we are listening. It’s Cisco and Oliver.” 

He sighed in relief, “Great, just the people I wanted to speak to.” 

They heard static and suddenly it was Iris talking, “No he didn't. He was really nervous.” 

Cisco frowned, “Are you both drunk?” 

“Oh yes,” Barry slurred, “Very. Oliver, I have bad news for you. If you keep my speed, your drinking days are over.” Oliver wanted to interrupt Barry, tell him to sleep so that he wouldn’t get caught by Abdera, but he kept speaking. “But back to the point of this call,” Cisco looked annoyed, and Oliver took a sip of the monster energy drink he had bought. Not that it made a difference, just as Barry said, things didn’t affect him now,  “We found a way to beat Abdera.” 

Oliver hadn’t realised that Cisco had taken a sip of his coffee at the same time as Oliver had and now they both swallowed so fast that they choked on the drink. He had been spending so much time with Cisco they had started to sync up, and that was creeping Oliver out.  

On his time on the island, he had developed a habit of mimicking people’s actions. Yao Fei’s advice. If you wanted to warm up to a person, you need to start mimicking their actions. Essential survival skill. Now he was choking with Cisco Ramon on energy drinks. 

“Wait what?” Cisco asked before Oliver could say anything. 

Barry cleared his throat, “Iris is amusing. She told me that I smell like Abdera Winters-“ 

Oliver did  _not_  want to hear that, “Barry get to the point.” 

“Wait for it,” He teased, “She smells like a burnt lightbulb.” 

“How is that relevant?” Prodded Cisco, anxious for Barry to get to the point. 

“She is not actually controlling shadows Cisco,” Iris said, Oliver thought she couldn’t hear their conversation, “She is controlling energy, giving objects an overcharge, like a burnt lightbulb, and creating a black hole, then absorbing the remaining energy.” 

Barry laughed, “You’re smarter when you’re drunk.” 

“You’re nicer when you’re drunk.” 

Cisco cleared his throat, “Guys we don’t need this kind of incest over a comm-“ 

“Oh,” Interrupted Iris, “This is not incest. Besides, he is in love with someone else. Isn’t that right, Oliver?” 

His and Barry’s reaction were the same, “Iris.” 

“You guys do realise how cool that relationship is?” Cisco smirked, “I think I'm going to call it Flarrow.” 

“No, you ain’t Ramon.” Barry snapped immediately. “Not on my watch.” 

On the background, Oliver heard four knocks. Both Iris and Barry cursed, and there was static again. Barry was the one who spoke, and it sounded hurried and like a whisper. “I’ll talk to you both tomorrow. I have some theories we need to cover.” 

Oliver could feel Barry smirking into the comm. 

“Goodnight babe.” 

The comm went dead, and Cisco gave him a look he wanted to slap out of his face. He glared at Cisco and grabbed the empty mugs that were on the table and stood up. “We are not having this conversation.” 

“Oh, maybe not today, but someday.” 

He really needed to get away from Cisco. Not only because of this conversation but because of the now useless survival skill. “Whatever you say, Cisco.” 

 

-*-

Hey, I was doing just fine before I met you  
I drink too much, and that's an issue  
But I'm OK  
Hey, you tell your friends it was nice to meet them  
But I hope I never see them

Again

 

 -*-

 

If someone had told Joe that he would be afraid of his son,  _The Flash_  for crying out loud, a year ago he would have laughed at them. Now, Joe was looking for every single video feed his son had appeared in on the last few days, and he was scared of one of the most important people in his life. 

A person he had vowed to protect and who he had raised, now was walking down the streets declaring that Abdera Winters was their new leader, That they should follow her rule or they would have great consequences. 

As Barry smashed the last window in the last car of the street, Joe flinched. 

He knew he shouldn’t be torturing himself with this videos, after all, it was not Barry’s fault he was acting like this, but as Barry broke the window of the car, Joe was taken back to the moment when Barry was fourteen. They had both been playing baseball in the backyard, and as Joe threw the ball towards him Barry lost grip on the bat, and it went flying, crashing into the front window of their house and sending thousands of glass pieces laying on the floor. 

They had laughed so much on that moment, and Joe had been so concentrated in the memory he hadn’t heard Wally enter the room. 

Wally put his hand on Joe’s shoulder and snapped him out of his trance. He looked up to find Wally looking at him with a questioning expression on his face. Joe gulped and looked at Wally with an apologetic look, “I’ve been very worried about your brother.” 

Wally looked at the screen, “Yeah I can see that.” He cleared his throat. “Actually I wanted to talk to you about something.” 

Joe frowned, “Of course, what do you need son?” 

“We are heading to earth-2, and you need to get away from all of this,” Wally gestured vaguely at the room, “so I wanted to know if you wanted to come?” 

Joe grimaced, “Wally I need to make sure-“ 

“You need to make sure Iris and Barry are okay,” Wally interrupted, “I know, dad. But it’s like you have aged twenty years in the last month. Everyone is worried about you. Especially me. You need to get away from all of this madness, even if it’s only for a day.” 

Joe wrinkled his nose, “A lot can happen in a day.” 

Wally chuckled, “Nothing will happen dad.” 

Joe closed the laptop, eager to please his son and snorted at Wally’s comment, “You don’t want to know how may times Barry told me that and everything went down a hell hole.” 

Wally tilted his head and nodded, “You are right, I don’t want to know.”  

“So, how are we going to travel across dimensions?” Joe asked and rose from his desk. “I thought we had closed all breaches.” 

Wally smiled at him, “Cisco has gotten better at Inter-dimensional travel.” 

“Cisco can travel between universes?” Joe asked. 

Wally nodded, “Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?” 

Joe kept talking with Wally until they got to the room where they would perform the travel. If he was honest, Joe was very happy about this situation with Wally. Sure, it had taken two major catastrophes, the death of his mother, and the temporary loss of one of Wally’s siblings for it to happen, but Joe wouldn’t want it another way. 

Having kids made you selfish. 

Cisco and Oliver were preparing the room. Well, not exactly, Oliver was clearing the space with his superhuman strength and speed, while Cisco rambled aimlessly about the most powerful couple of existence. 

Wally chuckled and placed a hand on Cisco’s shoulder; his face stated that there was something both Cisco and Wally knew that Joe didn’t, “Dude, Stop being annoying. Oliver doesn’t have the same patience as Barry does.” 

The white lighting stopped zooming around the room and stopped in front of Wally and Cisco. Oliver was dressed in simple sweatpants and a tight navy blue shirt. He dusted his hands off and glared at Cisco, “And I’m way stronger.” 

Cisco snorted, “You wouldn’t.” 

Oliver raised an eyebrow and Cisco looked down, then turned around and started fidgeting with some of the equipment that was settled on the only table that was not stacked on the side of the room. Joe decided it was s good time to intervene.“Are you sure this is safe?” 

“I’ve done it before.” Cisco answered. “Only two times, but I have done it.”  

“What are we going to do?” Joe asked. 

Oliver stuffed a gun in the pocket of his sweatpants, “We are going to get everything Barry took away from us.” 

“And we are going to seek advice.” Wally supplied. 

“And help.” Cisco piped in. 

 A silence settled upon the room and Joe decided to fill it, “So, who’s this power couple Cisco is talking about?” 

Cisco spun around really fast and smiled at Oliver while Oliver glared down at Cisco. 

“Oliver and Barry.” Cisco answers without breaking eye contact with Oliver. 

“Cisco and Lisa Snart.” Oliver fired back.  

“Hey no,” Cisco complained, “I told you nobody could know!” 

“I told  _you_  nobody could know.” 

 Joe frowned, “You both haven't been sleeping enough, especially you Oliver.” 

Wally looked at him, “Is that your only comment?” 

Joe looked around, “Right now, yes. We are in the middle of a really important war. I can deal with my children's' relationships later.” 

Oliver stopped glaring at Cisco and Cisco cleared his throat, “The process is simple, for all of you to cross I have to be touching you. I don’t really know what would happen if I didn’t. The only person I don’t have to touch is Oliver, who can run through without any inconvenience.

We will arrive at this exact room in the CCPD of earth-2. Hide until I get Captain West or her husband. I’m not famous in that universe, but all of you definitely are. Except you Wally, I don’t know who you are.” 

 

Travelling through the portal was one of the few things that Joe promised himself he would never do again. It made his stomach churn and his head spin.  Fortunately for them, that was the only inconvenience. The room they had chosen was utterly desolated, and Joe had been preparing himself to see his dopplegänger. 

Yes, it had been Cisco’s fault telling them it was Captain West that he was going to bring down to help them. It had also been Joe’s mistake by not paying attention when Cisco said ‘her husband’. But that was not the point; Cisco should have given them a heads up. Because as Iris West and Barry Allen entered the room, both Joe and Wally froze. 

“Guys, This is Captain Iris West and Barry Allen, Head CSI.” 

Regret clawed Joe’s chest. He would have rather stayed behind worrying over his children than see their doppelgängers. 

 

-*-

_I begin to assemble what weapons I can find_

_'Cause sometimes to stay alive you gotta kill your mind_

-*- 

 

The door opened wide, and Barry took a swig of the vodka bottle that he had picked up from the desk. Abdera marched in and looked at Barry with questioning eyes. “I thought you were going to torture information out of her.”

“And I have.” Barry lied smoothly. “She is drunk, in the bathroom.” 

He took another swig and Abdera looked at him cautiously, “What have you gotten out of her?” 

Barry grimaced, “Oliver is taking everything hard. He hasn’t been sleeping and what you did to him is making him suffer even more. I definitely lost my job and the only Doctor that could tell what was wrong with me.” Barry licked his lips; he needed to make this believable, “They are also planning on making the city protest against us. Apart from that, I haven’t gotten anything else. She is strong.” 

Abdera sighed and looked at Barry. “You shouldn’t be drinking. It’s not good for you.”

Barry rolled his eyes, “Yes mum, I’ll stop.” 

For some reason, Abdera had started to take care of Barry as soon as he arrived. She threw away the packet of cigarets he had bought on his first day with them. She had wasted a lot of time and energy by going to the mall and buying clothes for Barry and given him one of the biggest apartments in the building. She was now looking at him with apologetic eyes, "Look, Barry what I told you about making you kill Oliver," She made a face, "I wasn't serious. I was just angry with you at the moment." 

Barry shook the apology off. He didn't need her empty words tonight, or ever. "It's fine. I know you care more about your sister." 

Abdera glared half-heartedly at him, then sighed again. “You remind me of her.” 

Barry froze, “What?” 

“That’s why I gave you that necklace,” Abdera gestured at the military chain around Barry’s neck, “It was her favourite necklace. It was also why I came to you, even though I had a massive grudge against you. You remind me of Alexandra." 

 _Alexandra_. The name hung in the air and made it smell of regret and sadness. She had been Abdera's fiance and one of the reasons why she wanted to tear this city down. Suddenly the chain around his neck weighed one thousand pounds, “Why would you give it to  _me_?” 

His question hung in the air, right beside her fiance's name, and she stepped around Barry and sat down on the couch. He knew what she wanted him to do, and he sat down beside her. Bottle of Vodka forgotten on the table. 

“She had the urge to be the hero of everything.” She said sadly. “So much she forgot to be the hero of her own life, Barry.” 

Barry picked up the pendant of the necklace. He had never paid much attention to the inscription on the pendant, he now read it and still didn’t understand why Abdera might have given it to him. 

_One Murderer made a Villain,_

_Millions a hero._

_"_ She was a soldier?” Barry asked in a soft voice. 

Abdera nodded, “She hated it. She said she was made a hero when she should have been framed as a murderer.” 

“That’s why she chose the quote?” Barry asked, and Abdera nodded. 

“You could say we were Yin and Yang. She was a hero, and I am a villain.” 

Barry didn’t know why she was telling him this, “Abdera I-“ 

Abdera stood up, “But as much as you remind me of her, you are more like me. I believe you and Oliver are the same as we were. You are Yin, Barry, just like me, and he is Yang just like her. That’s why we are the Villains, and they are the heroes. But even if they are heroes they have their bad side.”

“Abdera what-“ 

“I know you love them, I know you are still working with them,” she stated, “but I want you to think of Alexandra when you make your decision, Barry. To stay here or to go with them. Heroes have a bad part too, and they will break your heart like she broke mine. And if they don’t betray you then you will be the hero of many stories except your own, just like her.”  _If you are not a villain, you are a dead man,_ she seemed to be saying. She walked towards the door. “I care about you, Barry Allen. And I don’t want you to be like Alexandra, I want you to be the hero of your own story. Even if that means being the villain of many.” 

 

With that she left the room, taking a piece of Barry’s sanity with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, there goes the last piece of sanity that Barry had and the reason why Abdera chose Barry instead of Oliver or anyone else in the team. Yes, that was the reason. Barry is a lot like Alexandra (Abdera's fiance).  
> It might also be or not be the reason why Andrea hates him so much; Because he reminds her of her best friend.  
> Also, I want to know your opinion on Oliver's and Cisco's relationship. I personally love it. What do you think?  
> We will have more Felicity, Andrew, Diggle and Thea in the next chapters. I promise.


End file.
